Hello, my name is Sue Cadwell and my daughter's name is Ayla. We have been living for the past four and a half years in Massachusetts. We live in a big attic apartment not far from the downtown area of Springfield. We will be moving by mid September into a first floor apartment not too far from where we live now. Moving is difficult under the best of circumstances and Ayla's ability to adjust and "go with the flow" of things helps me to make the decisions that I feel are best for her and I. We are pretty much settled into the area and into the all too familiar routine of doctors, therapists, and clinics. I'm also a single parent. Raising a child alone is difficult enough; raising a child who is physically challenged is an adventure. It raises many obstacles, but I tend to look at them as challenges and face them head on. Ayla is the same way. She is an amazing little girl who has taught me so much; not only about the value of life, but about cherishing what you do have and not complaining about what you don't. Everyone that has ever come in contact with her has been touched by her spirit. She truly is my angel.

Ayla was born with Myelomeningocele, which is the most severe form of Spina Bifida. The left side of her body was mostly affected. Her abdominals and back muscles are weak on the left side. She has little to no feeling in her pelvic area, and her left leg has minimal muscle control. Because of the weakness of muslces in the left side, the more dominant muscles on the ride side of her back have pulled the spine to the right, resulting in scoliosis; which is quite commmon in this form of spina bifida. Ayla now wears a special thoracic/lumbar/sacral brace that is suspended from the back of her wheelchair for up to eight hours a day. With gravity on her side, we hope this will prevent the curvature of the spine from worsening. She also has a shunt in her head as a result of hydrocephalus. The shunt allows the drainage of cerebralspinal fluid from the ventricals of the brain by way of a tube that then drains the fluid into the abdominal cavity. Ayla is faced with more surgeries in her future, but she is not alone by any means. We face them together.

Ayla will be starting fifth grade at Rebecca M. Johnson Elementary in Springfield. She has adjusted quite well to her surroundings, her teachers, and her classmates. She is always happy and positive and makes friends easily. Her favorite subjects continue to be music and art.

I don't wish to bore you with alot of details on this page; so please feel free to browse around. I think that you will find it easy to navigate. I wanted to give you enough information to read so that you could know that myself and my daughter are for real. This way, you will be able to make an informed decision about whether or not you would like to help out. I do not want to pressure anyone into doing something they don't want to do. Thank you for taking the time to read this site.