Cerebral Palsy Patients
(IN PHOTO) Volunteers of Fabrica de Sonrisas (The Smile Factory), dressed as clown doctors, walk with cerebral palsy patients on wheelchairs at a park in Guatemala City October 23, 2013. The Smile Factory is a volunteer group that was founded in 2007 and has over 1,000 active volunteers in Central America region. The group aims at helping patients in health centres, hospitals, nursing homes and hospices. Reuters

Maryland police has detained 41-year-old Nyia Parker for abandoning her 21-year-old severely disabled son in a wooded area in Cobbs Creek, Philadelphia. She left him there on Monday with just a blanket and a Bible.

Parker is facing charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment of another person, neglect of a care-dependent person, unlawful restraint, kidnapping and false imprisonment. She left her son in Philadelphia so she could be with her boyfriend in Maryland. The boyfriend was unaware of what happened, reports CBS.

The son, who has Cerebral palsy and is quadriplegic, was brought to The Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia. Police Lieutenant John Walker said he is in stable condition.

The victim was found only on Friday. Because of his five-day abandonment in the woods, he was suffering from dehydration, malnutrition and eye infection. A man who was walking in the woods found the abandoned disabled youth who could not communicate how he got there.

He was reported missing when he failed to show up at school for the week. When the school called Parker, the mother said they were both in Maryland, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Police are investigating beyond the abandonment. They would also look into how she cared for her son. Cops are also looking into how different agencies could provide services for the disabled young man.

Cerebral palsy, or CP, describes a group of chronic disorders that impairs control of movement because of damage to the developing brain. It usually develops by age 2 or 3, but the brain damage does not worsen throughout time, according to WebMD.

But the symptoms because of the brain damage usually change over time. It could improve or worsen. The 21-year-old victim is one of the estimated 764,000 Americans suffering from CP, according to the United Cerebral Palsy Association.

About 35 to 50 percent of CP victims have some level of mental retardation, learning disabilities and vision, speech, hearing or language problems. The cause of CP is largely unknown.

To contact the writer, email: v.hernandez@ibtimes.com.au

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