Living
Community comes together to help local youth
Tuesday, 03 April 2012 by Chuck Kelly
Lexi Murphy (center) was recently diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and Lisa Jay of HB Sheppard Cen-Tex Properties spearheaded a group to help Murphy with a new iPad and speech software.Six years ago, a precious baby girl was born — she was under intensive care for 11 days and nearly died — but after a long valiant struggle, six years later Lexi Murphy's life is taking a major change.
Little Lexi, daughter of Kelly and Kathy Murphy, is a victim of Cerebral Palsy but after years of doctor after doctor, her parents just found out last month.
Kathy Murphy tells the story:
"Lexi lacked oxygen after birth ... it wasn't caught and she almost died. We were told that she suffered from viral meningitis and we took her home to a normal life.
When she was 2, I took Lexi to our doctor and told him that 'something's wrong', that she wasn't developing like other children her age. In things like crawling and eating, she was far behind. He said that it was hard to diagnose a child that young but he believed she had Cerebral Palsy.
We took her to a 'specialist' and he informed us that she was retarded and 'just take her home'.
My husband, Kelly, and I wouldn't accept that so we took her to be examined by another specialist, Dr. Hall, who was wonderful. He said 'I don't believe she's retarded but we need to find out what's wrong.'
We spent the next four years going through genetics, pediatric neurology, a brain MRI in '09 and were told there was nothing that could be done.
We were doing all parents could do and went back to Dr. Hall, who said that he really felt like the cause was in Lexi's brain.
My husband took her to an appointment and called me very upset ... that doctor, looking at the earlier MRI, found what had been missed previously. Due to the lack of oxygen after birth, Lexi had suffered a stroke that affected the speech part of her brain. She had shown symptoms of CP all along but no one had detected a brain injury. Another MRI revealed that our daughter does suffer from Cerebral Palsy."
Her parents just found out and Lexi is six years old!
Little Lexi is outgoing and has a wonderful personality but is limited — speech, tremors or shaking, weakness in her joints, walks with a very stiff gait and falls a lot. Lexi is cognitive of everything and mom and dad communicate thru sign language but their daughter struggles because of the stiffness in the joints of her fingers.
Kathy Murphy posted a request on Facebook stating her daughter needed an iPad and a special application that would help her communicate. Did anyone know of a program or organization that might help them.
Enter the caring, compassionate people of Belton — they always stand up In trouble.
Lisa Jay, a realtor at HB Sheppard Cen-Tex Properties, saw the request on Facebook and "It just broke my heart," she said. She shared the story on her Facebook page, hoping that someone would step forward. Little did she know that help was just outside her office door. Just seconds after she posted the story, her co-workers, led by Broker Emilio Perales, told her "Don't worry about it, we'll take care of it."
"It just touched my heart," Jay commented. "My office shared the plight with others and we presented Lexi with a $500 Apple iPad, Monteith Abstract donated a $200 program she will learn and someone in the mall chipped in with a cover for the iPad. It's amazing how the people in our community take care of others in need."
Mom Murphy said that Lexi's special education teacher at Tyler Elementary, April Lewis, is "fabulous" and her daughter has "grown" so much due to Ms. Lewis' attention.
There is still a big need — Lexi has a weekly appointment with a speech therapist and she's being taught as much as her parents can at home but the biggest key is communication. The Murphys could use someone who can help Lexi (and them) master the new iPad program that can help her to "talk" ... will talk for her. Anyone reading this available?
It's been a long, exhausting, expensive road for the Murphys, who have four other children ranging in age from 16 to 23. Mrs. Murphy manages Belton's two Shipley's Donuts locations and Mr. Murphy is referred to as Sergeant at the Belton Police Department.
If you would care to aid the Murphy family in any way, you may email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
"We thank the folks at Cen-Tex Properties — Lisa and her co-workers, Emilio and Bradley and Holly Sheppard, the owners." Mrs. Murphy softly said, adding "and all the other wonderful people who we've met on this journey."
But ... this story is not about Lexi Murphy alone ... or what HB Sheppard did to help her needs ... but also to raise Belton's awareness that there are other people in our community with difficult circumstances. Look around, ask around — let's help, let's prove that Belton has a really BIG heart.
