Parents Inspired By Daughter's Road to Recovery

PEORIA - If you watch the way Myla Stuckey, 6, moves around, you'd never guess where she was just one year ago. Late 2011, something out of nowhere rocked her world.

"Myla came down with arteriovenous malfunction, basically an abnormal vessel in the brain that bursts. She had a stroke and went into a month long coma," said her father, Marc Stuckey.

"She was a perfectly healthy child. For her to have an illness and for it to be so severe, it was definitely a shock," said Myla's mom, Quinn.

Myla required brain surgery. When she woke up, she'd couldn't speak, walk or perform simple functions. Ultimately she landed at Easter Seals.

"Myla needed speech, occupational and physical therapy," said Marc.

Myla has spent a year rehabilitating with Easter Seals. Within that time, Myla's parents say her journey has been nothing short of a miracle, an inspiration and a gift from God.

 "When she first coming to Easter Seals, she was actually in a wheel chair. She had just started to learn how to walk and so she needed the support of a wheelchair," said Quinn. "Now we've returned the wheelchair. We don't even need it anymore."

The girl who once couldn't do much on her own is now hard to keep still.  

"Now she's very active. She talks, walks, eats regular foods and can even jump now," said her dad. "She talks more now than she did before the accident, so they don't have to speech anymore."

Though Myla's journey to recovery is not over, her mother says she continues to amaze.

"The other day she jumped. She hopped on two feet and we hadn't seen here do that before. We didn't know she had the ability to actually hop with both feet," said Quinn.

 Marc and Quinn say they are thankful to Easter Seals. If Myla was unable to receive the treatment, there's no way they could have stayed in Peoria.

Now, they say they're ready to keep moving forward, because Myla's ready too.  

The Easter Seals telethon airs on WMBD 31, on Saturday, March 2nd.