Teen suffering from cerebral palsy overcoming all odds

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FORT MYERS, Fla.- Jade Summers was born at just 1 pound, 5 ounces. As a small, premature baby, three serious brain bleeds left the now 19-year-old with cerebral palsy and ultimately confined her to a wheelchair.

“Everything that we do and we take for granted is difficult for Jade,” said David Summers, Jade’s father. “Getting ready, getting dressed, eating… everything.”

Doctors once told Jade’s parents she would never be able to function, yet she refused to let her serious medical condition define her.

“I can’t even put it into words,” said Deena Summers, Jade’s mother. “She’s like such an amazing child and gives 110 percent in anything she ever does.”

Jade was an honor roll student and is now a proud graduate of Estero High School with plans to become a writer. She’s also a golfer.

“We started practicing in our living room and we were using a putter and she just couldn’t get it,” said David Summers. “It kept raising over the ball, just we tried and tried. I was frustrated and thought you know this can’t be the end of this. We’ve gotta figure out how she can participate.”

So he created a device where Jade can drop the golf ball through the tube.

“When she’s able to participate in something and feel some kind of normalcy, it’s unbelievable,” David Summers said.

Jade’s parents knew she was capable of anything she set her mind to but even they didn’t expect the surprise the teen had in store for them at her graduation. For weeks, Jade had been practicing walking alone in her bedroom in order to walk across the stage at graduation.

“I will never forget that night,” Jade Summers said. “When everybody stood up and was cheering me on.”

On Wednesday, Jade was awarded a lifetime pass to Alico Family Golf, the only putt-putt course in the area that’s wheelchair friendly, so she can play golf for free whenever she wants.

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