October is Spina Bifida awareness month, do you know what SB is? Here is how we answered a Kindergartener this past week:
Kinder kid - "what is wrong with your legs?"
Melody - "nothing, I was born this way."
Kinder kid - "why do you have that wheelchair?"
Melody - "because I can't walk. I have spina bifida."
Kinder kid - "here's how you walk, put this foot and then the next foot."
Me - "do you know how your feet know how to move? Your brain tells them to. When Melody was born she had an owie on her back and the messages don't get from her brain to her feet telling them to walk like yours do."
Kinder kid - "do they hurt?"
Melody - "nope."
Melody - "nothing, I was born this way."
Kinder kid - "why do you have that wheelchair?"
Melody - "because I can't walk. I have spina bifida."
Kinder kid - "here's how you walk, put this foot and then the next foot."
Me - "do you know how your feet know how to move? Your brain tells them to. When Melody was born she had an owie on her back and the messages don't get from her brain to her feet telling them to walk like yours do."
Kinder kid - "do they hurt?"
Melody - "nope."
But.... the official definition from the Spina Bifida Association is this:
What is Spina Bifida?
Spina Bifida is the most common permanently disabling birth defect in the United States.
Spina Bifida is the most common permanently disabling birth defect in the United States.
Spina Bifida literally means “split spine.”
Spina Bifida happens when a baby is in the womb and the spinal column does not close all of the way. Every day, about 8 babies born in the United States have Spina Bifida or a similar birth defect of the brain and spine.
