The Cerebral Palsy Research Network (CPRN) interview with author and mother Lily Collison, MA, MSc on July 8, 2020 was so popular that we have invited her to be a guest author / blogger on CPRN to expand our knowledge translation objective. A critical aspect of knowledge translation in medicine is making medical information and evidence more accessible to consumers — members of the community of people with cerebral palsy (CP). Ms. Collison’s book entitled Spastic Diplegia — Bilateral Cerebral Palsy is the quintessential example of knowledge translation. As the mother of a young man with CP, she worked closely with the medical professionals at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare to explain the cause, progression and treatment of spastic diplegia for parents of young children, and adolescents and adults with that subtype of CP. CPRN’s third strategic objective is to translate knowledge broadly and “tapping into the experiences and writing of Ms. Collison is a great way to begin to fulfill that objective,” said Paul Gross, chairman of CPRN.

CPRN has invited Ms. Collison to provide series of blog posts that detail various stages of her son’s growth and progress with CP and the decision making process for various treatments he has received. These blogs will be presented in a reverse chronology starting with his recent decision to under go a selective dorsal rhizotomy — an invasive neurosurgery that seeks to reduce spasticity through the cutting of specific sensory nerve roots in the spine. The blog posts will include not only her experience and decision making, but also, where appropriate, commentary from her son Tommy. Each post will present various interventions, progress, personal stories and outcomes as well as highlighting the decision making process and the clinical evidence that was or was not available to make these decisions. Ms. Collison will also be available on the MyCP Discussion forum to answers specific questions about her book, decisions she has made and the blog posts that she writes. The blog series will begin next week on CPRN.org and be cross posted on MyCP.org. If you want to follow the CPRN blog, you can sign up to receive alerts of new posts.