Spastic Hemiplegia
By: Emily Adkins
What is it?
This is not a disease it is a dangerous result from a brain hemorrhage or an aneurysm, or excessive bleeding in the brain. The result is Cerebral Palsy, and can come in many forms. Such as Spastic Hemplegia where only one side of the body suffers from abnormal muscle spasms and stiffness.
Effects:
- trouble walking
- trouble talking
- trouble eating
- maintaining balance
- in some cases trouble controlling your saliva
- Seizures
- abnormal eye movement
Location
This shows the location of where the area has to be affected in the brain to cause hemiplegia on that side of the body.
Hemiplegia
In the picture above, there was a massive brain hemorrhage on the left side of the brain creating the white area.
Hemorrhage
This image is what a hemorrhage inside of the brain on a CT scan.
"I told her that and she was surprised. She thought that Hemiplegia meant degenerative. I said no, Hemiplegia means one side of my body is more affected than the other. Hemiplegia doesnt mean degenerative. Degenerative means degerative." - Page 130 Amy
"Say What You Will" by:Cammie McGovern
The main character, Amy, suffers from Hemiplegia. It affects the left side of her body. She cannot form words on her own, cannot walk without assistance and cannot control her mouth or saliva without creating a mess. Her condition began when she suffered from a brain aneurysm the day after she was born, although Disabled this doesn't affect her brain and academics. She is in all honors classes and finds them way too easy, her story starts when she writes a paper. Then she meets a boy named Matthew that actually tells her the truth, he sets aside the fact that she has a disability. He points out things that she couldn't admit to herself yet and they become great friends. The book goes through the details of how she survives through high school and her first years of college. It puts you into the shoes of what it would be like in her situation. I thought this book was pretty good, I wasn't expecting it to pull you in. about 3/4 of the way there is a HUGE plot twist that totally changed what you expected to happen. If a student had to read a book about a disability I would recommend this book to them.