By CARL E. FEATHER - Staff Writer - cfeather@starbeacon.com
SAYBROOK TOWNSHIP — When 19-year-old Kayla Cimorelli walked in the 2009 Lakeside High commencement last month, every step she took was testimony to her family’s commitment to help Kayla achieve mobility in spite of cerebral palsy.
Ten years ago this summer, Bernadette and Karl Cimorelli, Kayla’s parents, were making plans to take their 9-year-old to a clinic operated by EuroMed in Poland. Considered alternative medicine at the time, the intensive therapy revolved around the Adeli Suit, which had been designed by the Russians for Cosmonauts to wear in weightless environments. It found a secondary, therapeutic application in children who needed help training their muscles to respond to the brain’s otherwise ignored commands.
At the time the Cimorellis were considering taking Kayla for the four weeks of therapy, there was still warfare in Baltic Sea region. There was also the issue of the $10,000 for the therapy, accommodations, food and airfare. The couple had a 3-year-old son, Jake, who would have to be left behind in Ashtabula, and Kayla would be separated from her grandparents, whom she adored.
Nevertheless, Bernadette and her sister, Julie Melaragno, were determined to do what was best for Kayla. Family raised the finances, Bernadette took vacation and personal time from her job, Karl stayed home with Jake, and Julie, Bernadette and Kayla left for Poland Oct. 13. They were joined there by 17 other American families who saw the intensive therapy as their best hope.
“She was in a walker (when they left),” Bernadette recalls of Kayla’s condition. “A big, huge walker she pushed around. Her balance wasn’t there.”
A list of ambitious goals were set for Kayla to achieve during the four-week, personalized program: stand independently and walk with a handicap crutch as a result of strengthening her right arm/foot and increasing coordination between Kayla’s brain and muscles.
The therapy was grueling and Kayla often cried from homesickness, but the aggressive, innovative approach worked. Two weeks into the therapy, Kayla was standing on her own. By the time they left, she was walking with simple aids.
“She’s been walking ever since we left Poland,” Bernadette says.
The family followed up with another EuroMed intensive therapy program in Detroit six months after returning from Poland. They also worked with the Ashtabula Area City Schools District to establish a two-week intensive therapy program at the end of the school year. The family essentially banked a portion of the hours the district otherwise would have provided throughout the school year. By shifting therapy from three times a week to the intensive annual approach, they eliminated any need for followup at the EuroMed clinics.
“She did beautifully,” says Bernadette, who advocates an intensive approach to therapy. “She’s blown out all of her goals.”
Kayla recently wrapped up her aggressive therapy regimen for this year. Kayla receives both physical and occupational therapy from a variety of therapists.
“She’s walking pretty fast these days,” Bernadette says. “They are teaching her how to run.”
Bernadette says the family had an overall positive experience with the district as Kayla received her education. The first three years of her life she received infant stimulation at Happy Hearts. She entered the preschool program at Windermere after that, and went into the district’s special education program at Plymouth Elementary from there. She attended Columbus Junior High and completed her education at Lakeside High, where she was often on the special-education honor roll. The new high school’s many amenities were a blessing to Kayla.
“When she got to the high school, she was able to move around by herself,” Bernadette says.
Kayla’s speech is impaired, and while she can read, she achieves her greatest level of comprehension through audio. She loves books – shopping at bookstores is one of her favorite pastimes – and she especially enjoys listening to audio books. Kayla also likes to work on her laptop computer, listen to music, swim, go to movies and bowl.
Bernadette says her daughter’s greatest passion is her family.
“She loves to be with family, that’s her world,” Bernadette says.
That family will honor her accomplishments today with a graduation open house from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Carpenter Road.
Kayla is both excited and nervous about her party, says Bernadette, who made sure Kayla’s favorite cookie, buckeyes, will be in plentiful supply for the event.
“She loves peanut butter,” Bernadette said.
In 2002 the family began construction of a single-level home on Stonegate to better accommodate Kayla’s disability; they moved in the following year. They plan on Kayla living with them until she feels comfortable going into a group setting or assisted living arrangement.
This fall, Kayla will enter a new job training program at Lakeside High School to help her and other disabled juniors, seniors and recent graduates prepare for the work force. The Cimorellis hope Kayla will eventually be able to work in a career that taps into her interests.
She will continue to receive therapy once a week to make sure there is no regression and build upon the foundation she first received thousands of miles and days ago.
“She’s just progressed beautifully,” Bernadette said. “She will get to an age where she will plateau, but she has not gotten there yet.”
