A year from her op, Missy stuns family with progress (From Salisbury Journal)
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A year from her op, Missy stuns family with progress
6:00pm Thursday 21st February 2013 in New Forest News By Miranda Robertson
A year from her op, Missy stuns family with progress
IT’S been a year today since a little girl from Alderholt had a life-changing operation after Forest Journal readers dug deep to help.
Missy Hood, who is now three-and-a-half, has stunned her family with her progress since having the £50,000 selective dorsal rhizotomy op in America last February.
She can now walk with just the aid of sticks after surgeons cut through nerves in her spine to help her legs – left rigid and full of spasms by cerebral palsy – relax and move.
She is also beside herself with excitement waiting for a little brother or sister after mum Lucy, who had been scared of having more children after a terrible pregnancy with Missy, revealed she is 20 weeks pregnant.
This time Mrs Hood, 25, who is married to Phil, 28, is being scanned every few weeks and medics have assured her everything is going well.
They don’t know if Missy’s cerebral palsy was caused during the pregnancy or her traumatic birth at 31 weeks, but this time a caesarean section is planned and Mrs Hood is trying to relax and not worry.
And Missy’s continuing rapid progress is helping take her mum’s mind off things.
Mrs Hood said: “It’s scary to think that a year ago I was sitting waiting for Dr Park to tell me how the operation had gone.
“Melissa’s just got better and better since – I am so proud of her. She’s getting more and more confident, and a lot of that is because her nursery, Kingswood, has been doing a lot of one-to-one with her.
“I arrived to pick her up recently and they said, don’t go in, just look through the window, and Missy was making her way from one side of the room to the other, her face all smiles.
“I just stood there with tears rolling down my face.”
The Hoods have been contacted by many families asking about the SDR operation and so far three local families have been accepted for surgery in St Louis.
Mrs Hood said: “I still keep up Missy’s Facebook page and her website and we get so many people contacting us.
“It’s nice to know you’re not alone, and lovely to be able to follow each other’s progress.”
Get more information on the operation at stlouischildrens.org.
