Galway Advertiser 1998/1998_12_03/GA_03121998_E1_018.pdf 

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Mother sets up charity after birth injury
by Mary O'Connor A G A L W A Y mother has set up a national charity to heighten awareness about a childbirth injury which resulted in her son having a paralysed arm. Mary Gleeson Verbruggen from Oughterard says her eight-year-old son Johan will never recover from the Erb's Palsy which he sustained at birth and which affects his right arm. The condition is caused by a difficult delivery and is often related to the baby's could happen to any mother. Some 80 per cent of chil birth weight. Babies weigh ing 4.S kilos or about 10 dren born with Erb's Palsy pounds are more at risk recover within three months although this birth trauma but she says more needs to can also affect smaller be known about the 20 per cent, including her son, who babies, she says. "As our diet has improved, suffer permanent paralysis. "The injury can occur the birth weight of babies has risen. However, our female when a baby is trapped by its pelvic anatomy has remained shoulder behind the mother's pelvis after the head has been the same." She warns this birth trau delivered. Fragile nerves in ma, which is on the increase. the child's neck and arm may be over-stretched or torn from the spinal cord in the effort to deliver the baby." The Erb's Palsy Association wants better recognition and understand ing of the nature, causes, and proper treatment of the con dition. "I founded the association in response to a lack of infor mation and a sense of isola tion. However, within two days I came across 28 fami lies with an Erb's child. We now have 60 members." When a child is diagnosed with the condition, parents feel they have no-one to turn to for practical advice, she says. "We intend to provide a nationwide network of sup port." Anyone interested in join ing the association or finding out more about the condition should contact Mary Gleeson Verbruggen at (091) 552623.

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L
' Shouldering birth injury legacy: Mary Verbruggen and her son Johan.

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