>>> This year old loves to strut around his apartment and play with toys he is a budding
Elton John and Peyton Manning look out!
His mom, Marcia says she didn't expect her son would get this far.
>> DWANE: I see him walk and go sometimes I feel that
the prognosis was that
he
would be able to walk with crutches and surgeries after he was six or seven years old with a
lot of work!
I don't want to say that it's been easy, but it hasn't been as traumatic as expected for
the walking part at least.
>>> Spina bifida is one of the most common birth defects, in California it affects 1
in 2800 pregnancies.
Most kids are treated at a clinic for spinal defects at rady Children's Hospital.
>>> This represents the specialties that one person would see.
>>> The clinic includes specialists in a number of disciplines.
The clinic's doctor George Chang says that kids with spina bifida require a number of
different specialists.
>>> They're born with the spinal cord open and the nerves going to a lot of different
things can be altered or severed.
So not only do you have problems where kids are in a wheelchair and unable to move but
their nerves to their bowel and bladders may be gone.
>>> Dr.ÊChang says without treatment kids may have to be in wheel chairs or bed for
the rest of their life.
>>> We do our best to deal with mobility issues and try to prevent them from being in diapers
through surgical and medical means.
>>> The exact cause is unknown but research reveals women who lack folic acid in their
diet are at higher risk of having a baby with the condition.
The centers for disease control says because of their diet, Hispanic women consume the
least amount of folic acid than any group in North America and are less likely to take
a vitamin with folic acid when they are pregnant.
That may explain why there is a higher incidence among Hispanics.
In San Diego they are trying to change that, twice a year the spina bifida association
is trying to change that.
>>> We talk to the families, to teach them how important it is to eat or include in our
diet folic acid.
Even through the vitamins, and encouraging them to eat broccoli and spinach.
Even those who do take folic acid can have children with spina bifida.
But the future looks bright.
Marcia says when she was pregnant people used to ask if she wanted a boy or a girl and she
would say "we want a happy baby" and right now it's our dream to come true that we have
a happy and healthy baby after all.
>>> Kenny Goldberg, KPBS news.