When you love someone so much, giving up is not an option.
Ed and Maurie Drambel didn’t set out to be trailblazers but John, their 11-year-old son, lit a fire in them…a fire stoked by those who said there’s no cure for their son’s neurological disorder, cerebral palsy.
“He’s cognitively intact,” Maurie said. “Same level as his twin sister and he’s changed our lives tremendously for the better.”
They know how the world can judge a boy who cannot speak, who cannot walk. But John has a voice and he wants to tell you who he is.
He uses a communication device that reads his eyes. And he has ‘yes’ and ‘no’ hands to answer critical questions like who’s his favorite girlfriend this week, or what food he doesn’t like.
The Drambles founded CURE CP, the name was their mission. Then they heard what Dr. Charles Cox at the University of Texas in Houston was doing with traumatic brain injury patients, injecting them with stem cells harvested from their hips.