About Clara

Clara has Cerebral Palsy and needs your help to have a normal life

Clara Costa Pereira is a Brazilian little baby. She was born on September 11th 2007. She lives in Recife, Pernambuco and she is 11 months old. Since Clara's birth was very difficult this caused a damage in her brain. This damage is known as Cerebral Palsy.

Though Clara's life is not easy, she is a very happy baby! She is always laughing, playing, having fun.

Keep on reading about how is Clara's life and how Cerebral Palsy has affected her.

Head/Neck

Clara doesn't controll her head very well. Since her Cerebral Palsy is Athetoid, this means her muscles sometimes are very stiff, sometimes are very floppy. It's very hard for Clara to keep her head in the right position for a long time. We don't know, but it seems it hurts her when she is forced to keep her head in upright position, too.

Speech

Though Clara is 10 months old, she can't say words or phonemes that use letters "M", "P" or "B". That's because to say something using this three letters you need to join in both lips. Usually she tries to say something, but she never said "papa" or "mama". We are aware that it will be very difficult for Clara to learn how to speak. Clara uses to dribble a lot, too. If not corrected at time she maybe can dribble for the rest of her life.

Eyes

Clara's eyes have some problems due to Cerebral Palsy. You can see Clara using a patch in her eye in many pictures because we are trying to correct a squint she has in her eyes. The treatment is to use a patch in an eye for 6 hours a day. This is very uncomfortable for Clara. She will have to make a surgery in a near future to fully correct her eyes.

Feeding

It's very painful to feed a baby with Cerebral Palsy. Since Clara can't control her head it's too hard to hold her in a position where we can feed her. Clara also doesn't control her tongue very well. This means that it's almost impossible to give something for her to drink. She chokes. Now imagine what we need to do to ensure she takes enough liquid to survive in a hot country like Brazil!

Hands

Clara's hands and arms where very affected by Cerebral Palsy. She can't use them very well. She can't grab a toy, she can't touch our faces, she can't take a toy to her mouth, etc. We can see that she tries to do these things, but it seems like a "fight". Usually she gets exhausted after a few tries.

Legs

Clara's legs seem to be strong, however they present all the classic problems. When we try to make her "walk" her legs work like "scissors", crossing each other. She always step on the other feet, this makes her fall. Since her Cerebral Palsy is Athetoid, we know it will be quite difficult for Clara to walk, since her legs sometimes are too stiff, sometimes are too floppy. If not treated she can spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair.

Trunk

Clara's trunk control is very poor. That's why she can't sit down, she can't use her hands very well, etc.

Intelligence

Cerebral Palsy usually doesn't affect intelligence. It affects just the motor skills. That's why Clara seems so intelligent to us. She has an excelent contact with the world. She is extremely curious.

As parents we want to see our daughter to sit down, to crawl, to speak, to walk, to grab things. We want her to have a normal life, doing everything that she can't do today.

Help Clara overcome all these problems!

We are sure that Stem Cells Treatment can make Clara much better than she is now. It can make for her much more than any therapy she is doing now.

That's why we need YOUR help. Donate, at least One Dollar, to help Clara.

So, if you feel yourself touched by Clara's story, donate or spread this website! Have a nice day and may God give you twice what you donate to Clara!