Nigerian boy with CP gets a second chance in Minneapolis

From KARE 11 in Minnesota:

MINNEAPOLIS -- Life does offer second chances.

For evidence, look no further than the Nigerian boy who spent Jan. 4 working out in the Fairview pediatric rehab room on the U of M campus. Despite the stretching, reaching and contortions designed to loosen his twisted and spastic muscles, the child... known as Moses (pictured)... couldn't keep a smile off his face.

"He's just been amazing, such a loving, patient, happy little guy," reflected Karen Cooper, a Twin Cities social worker who is also Moses' sponsor. "He's so motivated to do well, he wants to walk, he's taking little steps, gaining strength, gaining weight."

It is a far cry from the life Moses came from. Cooper first met him on a trip to Nigeria in 2004. She went to visit what Africans call a 'motherless baby home', or an orphanage and asked to see available children.

"They told me they didn't have any kids right now, then they said they had one, but he's dying, you don't want to see him," Cooper recalled, "but I said I did, and when I went back there to see him I saw this little guy with an amazing smile, a sparkle in his eye, and I just knew he had potential in him. I knew forever we'd be connected."

Moses was skin and bones, a child with an obvious disability who rarely left a steel crib that resembles a cage. Cooper began sending money for food and clothing for the child, but photos she received made it clear he was not getting the help she intended. It took 5 years, and the help of foster mother Na'omi Musa to get Moses out of Nigeria and back to Minnesota.

Although there is no concrete diagnosis yet, doctors believe Moses has cerebral palsy. His age is thought to be somewhere around ten, but he wears clothing a four year old would.

Since arriving in October Moses has made significant progress, thanks in no small part to community partners like Fairview, Shriners Hospital, and a laundry list of other organizations and individuals. Cooper herself has started a non-profit she named the 'Hope for Moses Fund', to help African children with physical and mental disabilities.