Description

When Margaret Anne Mary Moore's umbilical cord prolapsed and caused a five-minute deprivation during her February 1997 birth and delivery, she was given no chance of survival. As she was being connected to respirators in the neonatal intensive care unit, her parents were told that she would not live through the night. No medical personnel can explain why she survived and began to breathe on her own; they have labeled it a miraculous recovery. Margaret came home with cerebral palsy, a physical disability that impedes her ability to independently sit, stand, and walk. She relies on a wheelchair and walker. Given her speech impediment that makes her verbalizations unintelligible to those beyond her immediate family and close friends, she also relies on an Assistive and Augmentative Communication device, a specialized computer that allows her to type in her thoughts and have them read aloud by its synthesized voice. Margaret has needed assistance with feeding, dressing, tending to personal care needs, and transferring between her assistive equipment and furniture all her life. Just before her second birthday, Margaret's father died of a rare form of stomach cancer. She and her two older brothers were raised by their mom Anne, a single mother who believes in the power of perseverance, teaching the children that they should use the determination that their father Terrence had in his cancer battle as inspiration for overcoming obstacles to achieve their greatest ambitions. Because Anne recognized the intelligence that Margaret had in early childhood, she enrolled her in regular education when she was entering preschool. Using assistive technology to complete her work, Margaret attended normal classes and was held to the same academic standards as her able-bodied peers from preschool through her graduate studies. With her walker, she grew up playing adaptive soccer and running competitively. She has been a Girl Scout since five years old, earned her Girl Scout Gold Award, and has even participated in extreme sports such as ice skating, parasailing, and ziplining. She now shares her childhood experiences in her debut memoir Bold, Brave, and Breathless: Reveling in Childhood's Splendiferous Glories While Facing Disability and Loss.