UT Health, At the Bedside: Kindergartener with cerebral palsy walks years after pioneering brain imaging device

Today, as Aisha Atkinson sees her smiling 5-year-old son Aries walking independently, humming the melodies of his favorite pop songs, she is proud of how far her son has come since he entered the world with two massive brain bleeds that developed into hydrocephalus and, consequently, cerebral palsy, a neurological condition that affects mobility and posture.

Born in November 2017 at 23 weeks gestation, Aries weighed just 1 pound, 11 ounces — small enough to fit into the palm of a hand. Manish N. Shah, MD, associate professor in the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery and William J. Devane Distinguished Professor with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, performed three surgeries at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital to help drain the life-threatening buildup of fluid in Aries’ brain that had developed during birth.