CELEBRATING DAVID
"How Will He Ever?"

Written by:  Lucena K. Winberg

"How will he ever...?" is a phrase I've used over the years.  "How will he ever zip his pants, tie his shoes, ride a bike, drive a car, tie a necktie?"  This is the story of my son David's struggles and triumphs in life.

David, now a handsome thirty-two-year-old, is the youngest of my husband Ray and my three children.  He was born exactly two months prematurely and at the age of one, he was diagnosed with hemiplegic spastic cerebral palsy, affecting his right side.  Dave walks with an odd gait and is able to use his right hand as a helper only.

His first struggle was hanging onto life itself.  The first time we saw him, it was touch and go whether he would live.  Weighing in at 3 pounds, 14 ounces, and 15 inches long, he was in an incubator connected with tubes and wires.  His skin was yellow from jaundice and his undeveloped lungs caused him to breathe erratically.  Then his weight fell by 6 ounces before he began to gain again.  We have the bracelet that fell off Dave's wrist over his hand when he was one week old.  It fits on my thumb like a ring.  We were able to bring him home from the hospital when he was one month old, at which time he weighed almost five pounds.  In our picture of him taken at that time, he was smaller than his sister, Bonnie's, baby doll that was on the bed beside him.

A big part of Dave's preschool life was physical, occupational and speech therapy at the Cerebral Palsy Center in Syracuse, New York, supplemented by similar sessions at home.  The therapy helped him deal with his disability and develop self-confidence.  After long hours of practice, Dave learned to use a zipper and tie his shoes with only one hand.  Because he had a slight facial paralysis, he even had to learn how to purse his lips to blow or whistle.  He learned to skip so that he could pass the President's Fitness Test in school.  Learning one thing at a time, he just kept plugging away.  He learned persistence at an early age.

Dave had several operations to improve his ability to use his right arm and leg.  In an attempt to relieve the tightness of the finger and arm muscles, he had a tendon transplant when he was five.  At eight, he had an operation to lengthen his Achilles tendon to relieve the tightness in his leg muscles.  Both of these operations required several months in casts and extensive rehabilitation.  He had already learned persistence; now he learned patience.

Dave chose to do almost anything anyone else could do; he just worked harder and found innovative ways to accomplish his goals.  He was determined to play Little League baseball.  This was another "How will he ever?"  He tried out for Little League just days after his leg cast had been removed.  I can still see him hobbling from base to base.  Because he could not use his right hand, he caught the ball with the glove on his left hand, transferred the glove under his right elbow and threw the ball with his left hand.

In fifth grade, he wanted to take trumpet lessons in school.  "How will he ever play the trumpet with only one useful hand?"  He managed to find a way, pressing down on the buttons with his left hand.  When he complained that air escaped from his lips, I reminded him of the progress he had already made; five years before, he had needed therapy just to learn how to blow a feather away.  Dave continued to work on his trumpet playing; he never played well, but for a year he took trumpet lessons with his classmates.

In high school, Dave took Shop; his wood projects were not perfect, his electrical wiring not as neat as that of the other students, but he did it all, one handed.  He took typing and learned to type one handed, thanks to a marvelous teacher who ordered special books and allowed him to use the only electric typewriter in the classroom.  He learned to ski, play golf and tennis.  He tried out for, and made, the high school tennis team--and developed a wicked serve.

In 1981, while we were living in the Cleveland area, I took Dave to see Dr. Allan Gurd, an orthopedist at the Cerebral Palsy Clinic, which was held once a month at the Clevland Clinic.  Dr. Gurd called the medical students and interns into the room to discuss Dave's case and his hand surgery.  Then, he had Dave walk up and down the hall to show off his heel cord surgery, which had been more successful than his hand surgery.  Finally, he asked Dave to throw a tennis ball he had around the office up into the air with his right hand and pretend to swing a racquet.  Dr. Gurd said that Dave should not have been able to throw the ball up with his right hand, but no one had ever told Dave that.

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