She had finally gotten her green belt in Tae Kwando. It was an amazing accomplishment for Kameelah D., a thin African American girl standing about five feet tall. Only four years before, she was told by a doctor that she would never walk again. It was quite evident that not only would she walk again, but she would also run, jump, kick, and punch.
When Kameelah was 11, a routine physical uncovered an abnormal curvature in her spine. It was soon after diagnosed as scoliosis. Kameelah, as well as her family, was devastated. They were told by the doctor that only 10 percent of all children are afflicted by scoliosis, but her family just couldn’t believe Kameelah was a part of that 10 percent.
Her first surgery was scheduled immediately. The doctor had the difficult task of reconstructing Kameelah’s entire spine and then re-situating her organs …show more content…
It was at the end of the third surgery when things went wrong . . . really wrong. The doctor inserted a metal rod, which happened to be too small, into Kameelah’s back. As a result, it compressed some of the nerves in her spine. She was practically paralyzed from the waist down.
“I'm really very sorry but . . . I don’t think Kameelah will ever be able to walk again,” the doctor informed her parents. But Kameelah’s father, James, as well as Kameelah herself, refused to accept that prediction. Her father, a registered nurse, insisted that the doctor put her in physical therapy and try to rehabilitate her. He insisted that he be there, too, along with the therapist, helping to rehabilitate his daughter. But the doctor wouldn’t oblige. He said that it was a lost cause, and that he knew that Kameelah could never walk again.
“I was really scared. I just remember telling Dad, ‘I have to walk. I have to walk, Dad.’ And he promised me, he swore to me, that I would walk again. He said just what I needed to
When Kameelah was 11, a routine physical uncovered an abnormal curvature in her spine. It was soon after diagnosed as scoliosis. Kameelah, as well as her family, was devastated. They were told by the doctor that only 10 percent of all children are afflicted by scoliosis, but her family just couldn’t believe Kameelah was a part of that 10 percent.
Her first surgery was scheduled immediately. The doctor had the difficult task of reconstructing Kameelah’s entire spine and then re-situating her organs …show more content…
It was at the end of the third surgery when things went wrong . . . really wrong. The doctor inserted a metal rod, which happened to be too small, into Kameelah’s back. As a result, it compressed some of the nerves in her spine. She was practically paralyzed from the waist down.
“I'm really very sorry but . . . I don’t think Kameelah will ever be able to walk again,” the doctor informed her parents. But Kameelah’s father, James, as well as Kameelah herself, refused to accept that prediction. Her father, a registered nurse, insisted that the doctor put her in physical therapy and try to rehabilitate her. He insisted that he be there, too, along with the therapist, helping to rehabilitate his daughter. But the doctor wouldn’t oblige. He said that it was a lost cause, and that he knew that Kameelah could never walk again.
“I was really scared. I just remember telling Dad, ‘I have to walk. I have to walk, Dad.’ And he promised me, he swore to me, that I would walk again. He said just what I needed to