A mother and coach who teaches athletics to children in Hemel Hempstead is raising awareness after her daughter was diagnosed with a rare condition that has left her unable to walk.
Aleksandra Lapinska-Rodrigues is the owner of Mini Athletics Watford and Hemel Hempstead and mother to nine-year-old Julia. Julia’s life changed forever after she suffered a minor injury in August 2023, which progressed into the inability to walk and insufferable pain.
Despite months of being told there was nothing wrong, Alex persisted in her mission to find an answer, until Julia was finally diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS).
CRPS is caused by physical trauma that leads to an alteration of pain perception in the central nervous system. Research and treatments are limited, and in some serious cases, amputation is the only way to alleviate the symptoms.
Alex is urging parents to persist with doctors if they feel something is wrong and to always trust their intuition.
Alex added that despite the inability to predict if and when her daughter will recover, she and Julia are not giving up hope. She plans to run a half marathon this year, pushing Julia in a running buggy/wheelchair.
She said: “[The condition] is so unknown, but we can’t sit and wait for it to get better; we have to live life in the moment. Of course, we will celebrate when it gets better, but for the moment we will keep going and pushing forward.”
0 Comments