DANVILLE, Pa. — Michael Stipeck, age 7, was born premature. He developed cerebral palsy from a traumatic brain injury as an infant. That's never stopped Mikey, as his loved ones call him, from participating on his cheer abilities cheerleading team. But lately, the cerebral palsy had made his legs especially tight.
"He was having some very significant deficiencies in his ability to walk and get around. He was using a walker, but even then, his legs were so stiff he wasn't really able to get around," said Dr. Cameron Brimley, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Geisinger.
Mikey had treatments to decrease the stiffness but did not see much improvement. Last fall, his mother Colleen was told about a neurosurgery at Geisinger called a dorsal rhizotomy.
Dr. Brimley says the surgery aims to decrease spasticity and make the legs more relaxed.
"You decrease that sensory input that's constantly going to your spinal cord and out to their legs. By doing so, it makes their motor neurons less active and actually able to control again," Dr. Brimley said.
"To see his accomplishments almost so quickly afterwards, it took a couple of weeks before we were standing again and moving again with our walker, but he was at a football game and wanted to climb up the stairs, so he did," Coleen said.
Colleen says the surgery has been life-changing for Mikey. He will soon compete with his cheer abilities team at their national event in Florida.
"He's always needed somebody out on the mat with him to assist him, to help him moving and transitioning. This year on the mat for cheerleading, he is out there doing it all on his own. They are coaching him from the side of the mat."
The family hopes someday Mikey will no longer need his walker.