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How an Aussie Man With Cerebral Palsy Tackled the Kokoda Trail
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of SBS (Australia's Special Broadcasting Service)
Posted: October 16th, 2016
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/how-an-aussie-man-with-...
Andrew Short lives with spastic cerebral palsy, which he contracted during birth. Cerebral palsy is a disorder that effects muscle tone, movement and motor skills, but despite impaired speech Andrews disability doesnt impair his mind, and he learned to read early. I speak three languages, said Andy. English, German, and spastic. Spastic is my mother tongue." Andrew is currently completing a Masters Degree in Disability Studies, but his most impressive achievement has been walking the Kokoda Trail, which he describes as the toughest physical challenge of [his] life. In Andys late twenties, his motor function appeared to begin deteriorating. We were told to accept that that's what it would be, said [Andrew's father] David. Instead, David and Andrew began researching the emerging field of neuroplasticity ... inspired by the seminal [book], The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science. Andrews physical condition is due in part to his trainer, Lee Campbell, a former army trainer and Sydney Swans team member. The two have been training together for five and a half years, and in that time Lee estimates that his physical condition has risen from 2.5 to a 7 or 8. You watch Andy pull a sled with 20 or 30 kilos of weights in it, he stands up, his posture is corrected, said Lee. His finer motor skills now are getting refined. He can hold things, he can cook, he can do his buttons up. Right now, theyre training together for Andys next endeavour, walking the Great Wall of China.
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