COLORADO SPRINGS - Each tentative step that Mackenzie Maher takes is a tribute to the work of the Shiners, who paid for the Colorado Springs teenager to receive an innovate treatment for her cerebral palsy.
Flipping through a handful of family photos with Mackenzie's mom, Rhonda, it's apparent Mackenzie has always had challenges and a smile that overshadowed them.
"She's got this charisma where people are just drawn to her," Rhonda Maher said. "I'm amazed."
Mackenzie clearly has no trouble connecting with people, but some of her friends in junior high school have a difficult time understanding what cerebral palsy means to her.
"The biggest challenge they have to go through in the day is what they are going to wear," Mackenzie said. "I have to deal with so much more."
Mackenzie's family has been her strongest ally in her fight. Her older sister, Jessica, found help in an unusual place: A television morning show broadcast.
Rhonda recalls the morning several years ago. It was a snow day - if she remembers correctly - when Jessica saw the segment on The Today Show.
"My daughter ran up the stairs and said, 'Mom, you've got to look at this!'" Rhonda said.
They watched a device called a Lokomat guide the legs of a girl with cerebral palsy as she walked on a treadmill.
"I said, 'Mackenzie, we're going to get you on that machine,'" Rhonda said.
The closest, pediatric-size Lokomat to their home in the Springs was in Chicago. Their Medicaid coverage wouldn't pay for out-of-state care, but the Shiners said "Come, you're covered."
A filmmaker came, too. Christopher Coppola's show "Digivangelist" looks at innovate uses of technology. Coppola profiled Mackenzie and the Lokomat at Shriners Hospital For Children in Chicago in an episode of the show that also examined motion-sensing technology used in Hollywood movies.
Mackenzie spent six weeks at Shiners in the spring of 2010 and returned for two additional weeks of therapy earlier in 2011.
Her mother says she went from using a wheelchair to being proficient with a walker. She's now learning how to walk with canes.
"I used to worry about her. 'What was her future going to be like?' And I can honestly say I don't worry about that anymore," Rhonda said. "She's going to do very well. She's going to do something amazing. I know that. I do."
-----
Cerebral palsy is condition, sometimes thought of as a group of disorders that can involve brain and nervous system functions such as movement, learning, hearing, seeing, and thinking. Theer are several different types of cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is caused by injuries or abnormalities of the brain. Most of these problems occur as the baby grows in the womb, but they can happen at any time during the first 2 years of life, while the baby's brain is still developing. In some people with cerebral palsy, parts of the brain are injured due to low levels of oxygen in the area. It is not known why this occurs.
(KUSA-TV © 2011 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)