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News Release/Article
Release Date: June 1, 2011
Topics: Children’s Health; Grand Rapids News; Medicine; Philanthropy
Wyoming Teen Receives Scholarship for
Specialized Therapy Program in Pontiac
Wyoming, MI ~ Eighteen-year-old Austin Hammer of Wyoming, MI, has been awarded an $800
scholarship to attend Euro-Peds National Center for Intensive Pediatric PT by the North Oakland
Foundation. Austin, the son of single mother Linda Hammer, has diplegic Cerebral Palsy, a condition
resulting from brain damage shortly before, during or after birth. CP affects each child differently,
depending on the area of the brain that was injured. For Austin, who has also been diagnosed with
Autism, has gross motor delays that make it difficult for him to walk. In December, Austin had a double
osteotomy operation in Saginaw where they cut his femur bones and reattached the tendons to help
him walk better, his mother said. However, Austin needs a more intensive, non-traditional approach to
therapy to help him rehabilitate after the surgery.
The Euro-Peds clinic (www.europeds.org) out of Doctors’ Hospital of Michigan
(www.dhofm.com) in Pontiac, Michigan, is a specialized hospital-based therapy program for children
and young adults who have cerebral palsy and other neuromuscular disorders. The $800 scholarship will
help cover the European-inspired “Suit Therapy” portion of Austin’s 3-week treatment program that
starts June 13. “Suit Therapy” is a European-inspired concept that was brought to North America in
1999 when Euro-Peds became the first hospital-based clinic to offer the treatment. The Euro-Peds
Therapy Suit is patented as a clinical medical device and assists with alignment, compression and
strengthening during intensive physical therapy. He will be at Euro-Peds 4 hours per day, 5 days per
week for 3 weeks.
“I feel this is Austin’s last chance to ever obtain any significant mobility,” wrote his mother,
Linda. “He will be 18 at the time of the therapy session…I feel the suit therapy is our last hope,” she
added.
If you are interested in contributing to Austin’s therapy fund for Euro-Peds, you may contact
Euro-Peds at (248) 857-6776 for a donation to Austin Hammer’s named account, which is administered
by Doctors’ Hospital of Michigan where the Euro-Peds clinic is based.
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For More Information: Anne Mancour, 248-857-6979 amancour@dhofm.com