A Mother's Fight for Her Son's Mobility

HOUSTON - A Houston-area mother took actions into her own hands, when she couldn't find the proper therapy for her 6-year-old son. Now, children throughout Texas will get to benefit from her research and fundraising efforts.

Nancy Risk helped TIRR Memorial Hermann in Houston get the equipment that she believes will get her son to take his first steps.

Six year old Noah was born with neurological problems that make it hard for him to walk, but his mom has done everything in her power to make sure Noah has everything he needs to learn to walk. Her mission began, when her husband found out about a device called a "Lokomat". TIRR Memorial Hermann had one for adults, but it was only available for "children" in Chicago. She took Noah there for a month to try it out. "I saw significant improvement! He could lift his legs and clear steps to climb the stairs and his walking was better, but he needed a lot more work" says Nancy.

Luckily, Nancy had a great group of friends on her side, to come to the rescue. "I am fortunate enough to be a member of an organization of Lebanese Christian women, whose parents & grandparents, immigrated here around the turn of the century and started this organization for raising money for charity", says Nancy. It was the perfect fit, since Nancy adopted Noah from Lebanon.

The group helped her raise 85-thousand dollars, to buy the "pediatric legs" for the adult Lokomat at TIRR Memorial Hermann. "I am so grateful to the women who helped make it possible, and I'm so grateful to TIRR that they already had the machine, so that we didn't have to raise the $407,000 otherwise!" exclaims Nancy.

Noah has been working out with Physical Therapist, Kristine Higgins, on the Lokomat, since it arrived two weeks ago at TIRR Memorial Hermann. "The Lokomat allows the patient to practice task specific training, meaning they get to practice a proper walking pattern for numerous repetitions, which allows them greater "carry over" to ground walking", explains Kristine.

It's working! "This morning, he lifted that leg right up to put his pants on. That's a big difference. He's lifting his legs and walking properly, and one thing I noticed this week that I have not noticed before, is his foot was flat", says Nancy. His Physical Therapist sees a difference as well. "His endurance has improved, he's making good changes, his step lengths are improving, and he's not dragging his feet as much as before", says Kristine.

It's not your typical physical therapy. Noah manages to have a great time during his sessions. Different games make him work even harder. "What are we going to pick off the ceiling?" asks Kristine. Noah yells, "Ice cream!" and then the fun game begins of reaching to the sky, which helps stretch his entire body, while he's walking. "Great stretching", encourages Kristine.

"It's not a new form of therapy - have been doing it for decades - putting kids and adults on treadmills in a harness and therapist gets on hands and knees. Try it. You can do it for five or ten minutes and you're exhausted and don't replicate the gait and this machine replicates the perfect gait. It's robotic machine, it's the difference between a computer and a typewriter", says Nancy.

Noah is an inspiration to everyone around him. Now, his parent's dreams, and the hard work of local women who helped raise the money for this machine, are paying off and helping many other children, with motor skill problems, just like Noah.

"It's so rewarding - get so excited to help these children - get back to what their peers are doing and being able to facilitate that is so rewarding!" exclaims Kristine.

Noah shares his delight of therapy on the Lokomat, as he giggles and shares one of his magical smiles. He marches on the Lokomat while singing, "The Ants Go Marching On".

FOX 26 Morning News anchor Melissa Wilson also interviewed a woman from the Houston area whose body was dragged during a carjacking attempt.

The guy, who tried to force Mayra Cantu to drive him in her car, shoved her out of her car, but her seat belt was still fastened. The suspect drove for two miles with Cantu's body hanging out of the car. It left her paralyzes.

Doctors thought Cantu would never walk again. Fortunately, she is defeating all of the odds and getting sensation back in her legs. She credits that to the help shes getting at TIRR Memorial Hermann on the Lokomat and because of her faith in God.

Kantu was on her way to church, when the whole thing unfolded.

On the Web:

TIRR Memorial Hermann -- http://www.memorialhermann.org/locations/tirr/