Best of Buddies: 11-year-old with cerebral palsy inspires 9-year-old with same

ELIZABETH CITY

Austin Carawan, 11, knows about compassion and understands what it means to share his experience, strength and hope for the benefit of others. Brandon Gibbs, 9, is learning that Austin's compassion will likely have a lasting effect on his life.

Both boys have cerebral palsy. Their lives intersected last fall, and now they are both on a journey of therapy that is changing their lives.

Cerebral palsy is a nonprogressive disorder that can have lasting effects on a person's muscular development. Some people are more severely affected by the disorder than others.

Rehabilitation has brought Austin a long way, and it is hard to spot that he wears a brace, or has any disability.

Brandon, on the other hand, is aided by a set of blue metal crutches and has had little in the way of therapy to help him stave off the effects of a disorder that prevents him from doing the one thing he desires most -- play football.

"Everybody kept telling me my son is not going to walk, so I just started thinking he's never going to walk," said Nellie Gibbs, Brandon's mother.

For Austin's part, his mother, Monica Carawan, said she didn't know anything was wrong with her son's body until he started to walk.

"He was walking on his toes, on his left foot," she said, explaining that after going back and forth with doctors, it was finally determined that Austin had cerebral palsy, affecting only his left side.

Carawan said that if left untreated, Austin's muscles would grow weaker and deteriorate. Surgeries and therapies would be required.

That's where Shriners Hospital comes into the picture. Austin became a patient at the hospital in Greenville, S.C., and his life was changed for the better since that day, thanks to a series of surgeries and therapy.

The Shriners have a string of hospitals dedicated to providing rehabilitation to children coping with a number of problems, and the cost is free regardless of your income, according to hospital spokeswoman Lynn Dunlap.

Nellie Gibbs said she knew about Shriners Hospital, but doctors here were so adamant that Brandon would never walk that she didn't really think there was much hope in going there. Besides, she was also coping with her younger son, a child with a brain tumor that was removed recently at Duke University Hospital.

Brandon is a cheerful boy with a broad smile. His spirit doesn't seem to be dampened by his disability, yet behind that smile there is a strong urge to change his plight.

Last fall, right before the Christmas holiday, Brandon was visiting Victory Christian Academy after school. Austin, who is a student at the academy, said he spotted Brandon and immediately recognized that he had cerebral palsy.

"I thought, ‘Wow, he's way worse than I am,'" Austin said.

Austin had a card with him relating information about Shriners Hospital and how it could help him. He gave it to Brandon.

Brandon said that meeting Austin brought a sudden ray of hope to his life that hadn't been there before.

"When he told me about Shriners, I thought they could do something for me," said Brandon, who added that upon seeing Austin, he was amazed that the 11-year-old has cerebral palsy.

Now, thanks to that meeting, Brandon will be heading down to Shriners in South Carolina at the end of this month.

Linda Dunlap, the spokeswoman for Shriners in Greenville, S.C., says that the hospital treats children from birth to 18 "whose condition we can help improve."

"What that means is there are no financial constraints or income restrictions," she said. "It doesn't matter if the family income is nothing, or they are millionaires."

There are 22 hospitals in the Shriner system. The one in Greenville deals specifically with orthopedic needs.

"People may not realize that we don't put any kind of parameters on the kinds of care we are able to deliver," Dunlap said. "As a child grows, he may need a brace a year, and we're going to fit the child for a brace a year. We don't file insurance. We are totally supported by philanthropy."

Brandon is hoping that his cerebral palsy will at least be mitigated enough that he can do things other kids enjoy. Things such as football and other sports are constantly on his mind.

"The hardest part (about cerebral palsy) is that I can't do stuff other kids do," he said. "Seeing them do it makes me want to do it."

Having a friend such as Austin on his side may well have put Brandon on his way to achieving his dreams. And Brandon won't have to do it alone. Austin will be at his side as much of the way as he can be.

Monica Carawan said that Austin makes regular visits to Shriners for checkups, therapy and even surgery when it's necessary. She said that Austin had asked if he could reschedule his next trip to Shriners so that he could be with Brandon.