Show DREAM COME TRUE Social and Economic Problems A Part of S Big Battle Ule I Ie I. the tb th fecund ft f tw we tw en n Ih the C r P Pall lif Amo- Amo elU In Ina sad and the tb work watt le bb th tb lb organisation loa Ii Ie a 41 Last weeks week's article gave a short history of the year-old year organization organization or or- that is doing doina everything in Its power to help palsy patsY stricken children This article deals more with social and economic background background background back back- ground of the problem The Tho cause of cerebral palsy is unique in that it is a crippler which strikes with mathematical ruthlessness ruthless ruthless- ness here then there at the very inception of life Sometimes Its cruel hand has done its damage before firth Ten thousand times each year the same samo scene occurs tragic because when the mother and father dis des discover cover covel their baby is palsied there is isso isso so 10 little in the way of h lp Sometimes Sometimes Sometimes Some Some- times they know it Immediately but in other cases case it may be months before they learn their child has suf suf- suffered a brain injury that affects speech or 01 use of arms legs or head i Since it is I. not a disease we d do not need to worry about a germ microbe or virus But the cold statistics sta of cerebral palsy strike fear into the hearts of parents awaiting the birth of a child chUd They know that fate is methodically counting off oU the babies and that each year seven out of each of total population will be cerebral palsied It could be theirs or theirs or yours yours regardless regardless of all aU precautions exercised or all the care that par parents or the best physicians physic physic- lane ians can provide The disability of cerebral palsy also is found at the opposite end of the life span Whatever the cause the adults who suffer a cerebral hemorrhage stroke require care and treatment common to young suffers of cerebral palsy Estimates vary as to the number of adults who are affected but it Jt is untold hundreds hundreds hun dred of thousands S e e UNTIL COMPARATIVELY recent years the human race all over the world considered itself helpless to fight this great unknown malady If U a child chUd were so affected the thing to do was to hide it In the back rooms The heartache and the heartbreak of parents has sometimes sometimes some some- times been hidden but cerebral palsy has left lert a trail of needless social devastation broken home parents often accusing each other the live Uve of other children and relatives relatives relatives rela rela- tives seriously affected as fate continued droning off the numbers Vicious as has been the effect on the relatives it doesn't compare with the tha injustice to the sufferers Our nation priding itself on living in an enlightened age ace continues continue to tre treat t many t Of f these Injured as halfwits halfwits half hail wits idiots or 01 feebleminded when tests show that 77 out of have average or superior intelligence That makes as much sense as giving giving ing such consideration to a person who was hit by an automobile An Idea of the huge economic waste may be obtained by simple multiplication The most conservative conserva conserva- tive Uve estimate of children born with cerebral palsy In hi the United States is Merely to give them custodial custodial custodial cus cus- care costs posts an average of a year They have a normal life expectancy Taking an average of 60 80 years each child costs for a lifetime merely vegetating his years away For the chil chU children dren the cost reaches the staggering total of The actual bill bUlis is much more because because be be- cause there are new babies born with cerebral palsy each year and several million adults who are palsied in later years of their lives But this is ls only part of the cost The rest is in 14 heartbreak and broken homes These are the problems problem of the United Cerebral Palsy Associations lions Inc |