Welcome to Kara Schmidt, PA and Registered Dietician for Infant Child & Adolescent Neurology

Botox keeps Sudbury girl on the move
By CAROL MULLIGAN THE SUDBURY STAR
Posted 3 hours ago

No child enjoys getting needles, so it's no surprise when nine-year-old Cassandra Degn answers a firm, "Yeah!" when asked if Botox injections hurt.

But the benefits therapeutic injections of the drug offer people with cerebral palsy like Cassandra are so dramatic, the youngster bucks up and undergoes them two or three times a year.

Cassandra and her mother, Julie, visited Sudbury Regional Hospital's pediatric outpatient clinic Wednesday. Cassandra was relieved she wasn't there to get up to six needles, but to share her story of how Botox improves her quality of life.

For the St. Pierre Separate School student who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when she was 18 months old, the needles mean increased mobility -- "the freedom for her to be able to do as much as she can," said her mother.

Cassandra received her first injections at age two. Before that she was walking on her tippy-toes, said Degn. After the shots, her feet were flat.

Read the rest of the article here.