While many go pink for Breast Cancer awareness month, others went green for World Cerebral Palsy (CP) Day which was celebrated on October 6.
The website; worldcpday.org states that there are 17 million people across the world living with CP. Another 350 million people are closely connected to a child or adult with CP. CP is a permanent disability that affects movement.
Its impact can range from a weakness in one hand to almost a complete lack of voluntary movement. It is a complex disability and 1 in 4 children with CP cannot talk, 1 in 4 cannot walk, 1 in 2 have an intellectual disability and 1 in 4 have epilepsy. CP is a lifelong disability and there is no known cure.
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A twenty-eight-year-old resident of Eldorado Park, Simmone Smit was diagnosed with CP Spastic Quadriplegia at a very young age.
According to the website: cerebralpalsygroup.com, spastic quadriplegia is a specific type of spastic cerebral palsy that refers to difficulty in controlling movements in the arms and the legs.
Those who experience this form of CP will not have paralysis of the muscles, but rather jerking motions that come from stiffness within all four limbs.
Her mother, Debbie Neethling shared: “I had a normal pregnancy, but when she was about seven or eight months old, I saw that she would just be lying on the bed. I then took her to the clinic for tests, but they couldn’t find the cause. They diagnosed her with cerebral parsley quadriplegia.”
Smit who is now married and has what her mother calls her miracle baby boy attended Forest Town School and then she attended Frances Vorwerg School, where she learned how to make soaps and use a computer.
Smit receives a disability grant but shared that that money is not enough so instead of depending only on the grant, she decided to put her skills to good use.
“They gave us options at school. I didn’t choose baking, so I chose to learn how to make soaps and lotions from scratch. Two years ago I started making soaps, bath salts, lotions, and bath bombs. People have been supporting me,” said Smit.
The resident sells her products from home as well as at market days held in Eldorado Park but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, things have been a bit slow.
Her mother also shared: “I really thank the Lord for this guy (Smit’s husband) because he washes her, helps her to the toilet, he even feeds her. He does everything for her.”
Algerone Booysen who is also a resident of Eldorado Park said that Smit is such an inspiration to him because she does not let her disability stop her from trying to live the life that she desires.
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