Abby Fox (Intro): Welcome to the Still Caring Podcast, presented by Stillwater Medical.

Joe Akin (Intro): Here, community is at the heart of healthcare.

Katon Lunsford (Intro): Through honest conversations and shared experiences,

Abby Fox (Intro): we explore what it means to care for our health—

Joe Akin (Intro): and each other.

Katon Lunsford (Intro): Because better health takes a village and you're part of ours.

Abby Fox (Host): Welcome to Still Caring. I am Abby Fox, the PR and Marketing Manager here, and we are thrilled to have the Cabrera family with us in studio today. Thank you for joining us.

Caleb Cabrera: Thank you for having us.

Bailey Cabrera: Thank you so much.

Host: Absolutely. So, can you start—like, tell us a little bit about when Stillwater became home for your family?

Caleb Cabrera: Well, I moved here a little after you did. I went to Enid first, went to NOC, and then I moved here in 2015 or 2016. So, about a decade ago at this point. You were here a couple years prior, I believe.

Bailey Cabrera: Yes.

Caleb Cabrera: Yep. And we actually went to high school together, Mustang High School. We knew each other then, and reconnected when we came back out here to Oklahoma State.

Bailey Cabrera: Yep. Met here, and then just circumstances took us away for a bit. He had an unexpected promotion. We had a couple choices of where we could go, and we had Julian at this point, and just thought nowhere would be better to raise him than stillwater. So, that's where we just decided recently, the last couple of years, to come on back.

Host: That's so great. Well, we're thankful to have you as a part of this community and thrilled to hear how your family is growing and changing. So, take us back to Julian's story and kind of his birth story and maybe when you found out cerebral palsy was going to be a part of his his story.

Bailey Cabrera: Yes. So, my pregnancy with him was very typical. Really did not notice any abnormalities. Everything was going great. I chose to induce him a week early, and I was ready to go. We were ready to meet him and just have him be a part of our family, and we had the all clear from all of his physicians. I gave birth, and everything was typical. We noticed he was struggling a little bit shortly after birth. The nurses and staff thought maybe that it was blood sugar related. He had a couple finger pokes, and everything was normal. We got lucky the nurse the next morning had noticed some seizure-like activity. And so, I was asked if a physician could take a look at him. We agreed. Obviously, that was in the best interest, of course, to do so. It took a few months. He was born in July. And in December, we actually got confirmation of cerebral palsy.

There are a lot of imaging and just other kind of testings that need to be done before confirmation can be given to family members. But he's worked closely with a neurologist since birth. And they have just been kind of slowly keeping track of symptoms, testing, just, I guess, birthing history, things that had happened in the hospital. He had a brief NICU stay, and just all collectively with all that information and one last MRI in December, we got that confirmation of cerebral palsy. And that was something that we were kind of prepared for, but we don't know anyone with cerebral palsy. We are first-time parents. And so, this has just been a whole journey for us.

Host: I bet. And for those listening who don't know what cerebral palsy is, can you tell us just kind of in simple terms what that means?

Bailey Cabrera: Yes. So, it's actually very complicated because it is different for everyone. So, for Julian specifically, his front two lobes in his brain are damaged. They cannot be repaired, but because he is so young, they will rewire themselves and adapt in other ways. But, you know, that is up to his brain. A child can have the same injury and have completely different outcomes.

So, the scary thing is it is a wait-and-see. But with a good support system, you can kind of have a good community, get a good sense of what outcomes are, extra therapies, just anything and everything that you can think of. So while this has been a little bit scary for us, it has been more motivating, more eye-opening. It's just completely changed our lives and for the better.

Host: Yeah. Absolutely. So, talk to us a little bit about that support system that you mentioned. Have you felt like you've always had that throughout this journey? Or is that something you've struggled to find?

Caleb Cabrera: Honestly, yeah, you know, my family has been fantastic. I've got my grandpa, Lewis, my dad, Chris, and my step-mom, Andrea. They are fantastic. You know, any time that, you know, we need just maybe a Saturday to ourselves, you know, we've had a longer week, we can go over there and we can kind of stay there with them and kind of, you know, watch him, you know, have an entire village watch him, not just ius kind of watching him on our own.

And then, your mom is the exact same way, Christina down in Meeker. So, just all of our family has been fantastic. Luckily for us, they're all within about an hour drive. So, that is a big plus for us. And It's been really nice.

Bailey Cabrera: And just all big on activities. My mom, Christina, and my step-dad, Ryan, they are big golfers. Chris and Andrea have a pool. We love to go to the zoo. We just try to expose him to as much as we can, and our community knows that. And not only the support with our family, but with, you know, Dr. Smalley at Stillwater Pediatrics and Katey with Healthy Steps.

And It's just been such a collaborative effort. We did not have that support when we were living in Oklahoma City. It seems like it's a lot of facts thrown at you, but it's hard to digest that and then to say, "Okay, where do we go now? What do we do now? What's available?" And I feel like in Stillwater, we had help. It was laid out for us. We had so many options.

Caleb Cabrera: It's just felt like people wanted to help.

Bailey Cabrera: Yes, I agree. Yes. It's just been such a wonderful experience. It feels like a real community, and it just solidifies why we chose to come back.



Caleb Cabrera: Remember saying that? Love Stillwater.

Bailey Cabrera: Yeah.

Host: Well, tell me a little bit about Karman Korner, because I know that's something that is part of y'all's story. How did Karman Korner Help?

Bailey Cabrera: Oh, we did not even realize that there were nonprofits in this area that had a passion for children. And just anybody like Julian and just everyone in this community, Karman Korner, we did not know that it had existed until Katey with Healthy Steps walked us through the system of just getting in contact with the lovely people there, filling out the application, just the whole process. We were walked through that. We were accepted the same day that we got the application.

Karman Korner worked with the prosthetics company, directly made phone calls. We did not have to do a single thing. They made that so easy for us, which was incredible because, I mean, he's got so many appointments, so many things we're taking him to. So, just that unexpected help to get something that has benefited him so, so greatly, was just amazing.

I was just so touched. We felt like we had to send a thank you card to them and just let them know that they truly impacted our family. And actually, because we got accepted for this grant, he is a participant of the SoonerStart program. And they didn't know that Karman Korner offered that grant, and that opened it up. You know, more people can find out about that just because he's connected within the community in so many different ways.

Host: That's amazing. And just for context for our listeners today, too, Karman Korner being a retail shop, you know, that you can donate your clothes or your extra, you know, appliances to and then they resell those, and the proceeds do benefit people like julian. So, that's amazing.

Bailey Cabrera: Yes. So, it's just amazing that there are places that are, you know, willing to go through and just complete all those processes just to benefit these families and this community. It's much needed and much appreciated.

Caleb Cabrera: Oh, yeah. Without, Healthy Steps and everyone over there in Karman Korner, I mean, he wouldn't have these braces.

Host: Yeah. Yeah.

Bailey Cabrera: Yeah, I mean, and he's made such great improvements with them. So, it's been just a positive overall.

Host: Is the goal one day that he will be able to walk? Is that the hope?

Bailey Cabrera: Yes. Yes. We are working on that. He does physical therapy about once a week, along with speech therapy. And I mean, the braces have improved his stance. They have improved his stability. Also, his drive and motivation, I think, because his feet feel supported, he feels supported. So, he's moving like he has never moved before. That's amazing.

Host: That's amazing. Yeah. Yay. Yes. Yay. We're excited. Well, talk to us a little bit about what it has felt like. I mean, he's already overcome so much adversity in his life. What does that feel like as parents to get to be a part of his support system as he does things?

Caleb Cabrera: I mean, it's humbling, honestly. You know, he's gone through so much in his year and 10 months, you know, that I never went through. So, it's very humbling. You know, he's a very, very strong young man and, you know, he doesn't really complain. He doesn't whine about it. He just does it.

Bailey Cabrera: Taught us a lot of patience and resilience, and he's just our pride and joy. It couldn't get any better than being with him. And it just feels wonderful to be somewhere that wants to foster that along with us. It's just been the best.

Host: Absolutely. Well, we're so grateful that you're sharing his story with us, and that you're helping get the word out there, because I know there are other families that are navigating this. And so, the more that we can know and support one another through it, the better. You can be together.

Bailey Cabrera: Yeah.

Host: Okay. So, we end all of our podcast conversations with a challenge to care. If there is one challenge that you all would have for the community about what they can do to either better care for themselves or for their neighbors, what would that be?

Bailey Cabrera: I just say keep your eyes and ears open and don't be afraid to say hello. Everywhere, you know, things were getting more accessible. They could be even more accessible. You don't know what somebody's going through, so just be watching and listening and be open to learning. This is already such a wonderful community, and I know it's just going to get even better if we continue to do what we're doing.

Caleb Cabrera: Oh, yeah. Always ask questions at appointments. You know, try to get the full scope of what what they're going through, so that way you can understand it and help them kind of guide through it better. Always ask questions at those appointments that pertain to things. You know, Karman Korner, we didn't know about it until Healthy Steps helped us out at that appointment.

So, always be asking questions and then, like she said, you know, be kind, say hi. You know, sometimes we'll kind of get looks or something because he has the braces and his glasses and eye patch on. So, you never know what everyone's going through, so just be kind, say hello. He's a wonderful young man.

Bailey Cabrera: Yes, don't be shy.

Host: Well, thank you all for being here today. We really appreciate it.

Caleb Cabrera: Thank you. Thanks for having us.

Bailey Cabrera: Thank you. Yes.