It’s the ‘thing in my life that shaped me the most,’ participant says of life-changing therapy

We met Ka for the first time when she was 13 months old. And she came through and has repeated therapy each year. Ka had a stroke in utero and that caused weakness on the left side of her body. And so we placed a cast on her right hand in order to teach her that she could use her left hand and also use both hands together. It's probably the most important thing in my life that shaped me the most. Say you didn't have a stroke like would that have been better? In some ways, sure. But I think overall it's made me a stronger person and it made me better at like developing relationships with different people. And it's really contributed to both my work ethic and my goals for the future. I think that if it hadn't happened, I maybe wouldn't have had such a strong interest in pursuing medicine or at least such an early interest to see her evolve from just play based activities to activities that are interesting for her as a young teenager where she loves playing tennis and is successful using both hands. And she loves photography, and she's successful using both hands. And to know that, we had a part in that through a choir and the intensive therapy, that evidence space, we're doing the research and offering it clinical, I think is a huge gift to the Roanoke community. And also at large, you can't just come here and do the therapy and be done. I guess it has to keep going with you. You have to commit to it. And it is hard in the moment having the cast on and doing the therapy, but it definitely pays off In the long run. I am thankful that I'm able to do all the things I want to do that all my friends can do, and I know it wouldn't have been possible without the people here.