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I learned to see my child , not for what he can and cannot do , but for who he is .
himself a cookie or communicate using words . This is because Nathan has cerebral palsy .
While not a single condition in and of itself , cerebral palsy is a group of problems that affect a person ' s body movement and posture . Cerebral palsy is the most common childhood disability and is responsible for a high percentage of lasting disability in children . Recent research poses that 1 in 278 children globally has this condition .
The disorder is related to brain injury in utero , at birth or in the early stages of life ( between zero and three years of age ). While the exact cause of cerebral palsy can ' t always be pinpointed , some possible causes include premature birth , problems after birth , lack of proper in utero nutrition , a serious head injury or infection that could harm the brain or a genetic condition that affect ' s brain growth and formation . In Nathan ’ s case , his infraction was caused after birth . He was diagnosed with congenital diaphragmatic hernia which required major surgery to correct the breach . He underwent surgery at just 2 days old . Ten days post-surgery he suddenly developed severe jaundice with hyperbilirubinemia ( abnormally high amounts of bile pigment ( bilirubin ) in the blood ) of 408 . Though this was corrected within twenty-four hours by phototherapy , it is believed that the damage was done to his young brain cells in the motor cortex area of his brain , which controls movement .
Nathan spent 24 days in the