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You Walk, I Crawl

By: Sonia Lima

Naiya and her mother, Tiffany

Name: Naiya Harris
Age: 3
Level of injury: T5
Mechanism: Born with dimple on her back
Date of Injury: Since birth

Tiffany Franklin, Naiya Franklin's mother, noticed a dimple on Naiya's back when she was born. Tiffany, having been a medical assistant for a while, had some knowledge about nerves. "The nurses thought it was Spina Bifida," explains Tiffany, who didn't have a good feeling about the noticeable dimple, "but the doctor said it was a tethered spinal cord."

Naiya, now 3, was moving her legs perfectly fine when she was born. "She passed both Apgar tests, a limb strength test," says Tiffany, "and was sent home two days later with an out-patient MRI scheduled to investigate the dimple."

Three years, three surgeries
The night Naiya was sent home, Tiffany noticed something wrong with Naiya's left leg. "Her leg wasn't moving very well, so I called the pediatrician," explains Tiffany. "I was told to take her to the Children's Hospital in Michigan."

Once at the Children's Hospital, they ran some tests on Naiya including a CT scan and two MRI's, where they found a tumor on her spine. The tumor was pressing her nerve which was affecting her leg movement.

Naiya had her first surgery at 4-and-half-days-old, which took five-and-half-hours. She has a scar from the base of her neck all the way to her tailbone.

In total, Naiya has had three surgeries on her spine. "The tumor grew back two years later," says Tiffany, "so they had to have a second surgery." Naiya then had a follow up MRI three days later in the hospital where they noticed a tumor inside of her spinal cord that the doctors were not able to see originally. After a few months she was still in pain, so she had her third surgery.

Naiya in her hallowen costume.

Youngest patient in a wheelchair
Since the surgery, Naiya hasn't been able to move her legs and she can't feel anything below her waist. She had a wheelchair ordered for her at ten-months-old, but only started using it at eighteen months. "The Children's Hospital in Michigan said she was their youngest patient to use a wheelchair," says Tiffany. "Naiya mastered the wheelchair within a week."

Though Naiya isn't in constant agony, if she lays on her back for too long, she'll start to feel pain. (She has gone to physical therapy where she learned to swivel her hips.)

Naiya's family is working hard to get her an Am Tryke tricycle (a bike that Naiya can pedal with her hands), which she used in physical therapy and loved. "She wants to be like her older brother (age 7)," laughs Tiffany. "He is such a great big brother and is so good with her."

Little girl, big attitude
"She's such a happy little girl," says Tiffany. "She knows that she can't walk but other people can. But she doesn't let it get her down. Naiya says to her brother, 'You walk, I crawl.' She has never asked why, and she never cries about her situation."

Naiya doesn't like to see anyone cry because then she will cry too. "If someone is in danger she will say ‘I'll save you,'" laughs Tiffany. "She will save them in her own way because she thinks she is everybody's protector. She's really cute."

Naiya likes to play basketball, sing along to the TV, dance, play with toy cars, and swim. "She wants me to let her go when she is in the water and I'm like ‘No, you can't hold your breath yet!,'" laughs Tiffany. "She gets mad if I try to help her."

"She is paraplegic, and she can have kids one day if she chooses to," says Tiffany. "She will be catheterized when she goes to school, but she will have a normal life and live it to the best of her abilities with her condition."

Even though Naiya can't move her legs, that doesn't stop her from being herself. "She is one of a kind. She accepts her condition," says Tiffany. "Maybe in the future she will question it, but right now she is content with who she is."

Tell us your story
Telling your story is one way to let anyone touched by paralysis know that they are not alone. We've created a place where you can share your journey for your benefit, and the benefit of others. Your story matters. Share it.

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The information provided in the Paralysis Resource Center was supported by Cooperative Agreement number 1U59DD000838-01 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the Reeve Foundation and do not necessarily represent the official views of the CDC.