GI returns to see her once-stricken daughter walk

Soldier mom's miracle 1:33
One mom comes home from Iraq to see her daughter do something doctors said she never would. WSVN's Rene Marsh reports.



GI returns to see once-stricken daughter walk
By Kelli Kennedy - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Dec 23, 2008 22:05:32 EST

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — On Tuesday morning, little Cheyenne Leslie entered the Ocean Medical Center and ran purposefully into the arms of her physical therapist, to the smiles and cheers of staff workers, the girl seemingly unhindered by her arm and leg brace. It was a dress rehearsal of sorts.

A few hours later, the 4-year-old diagnosed with cerebral palsy as an infant — who doctors once said would likely be confined to a wheelchair for life — ran through the airport terminal to greet a mother who has never even seen her child walk.

Cyd Leslie, an Army specialist who has served in Iraq, Afghanistan and other posts abroad for the past year and-a-half, has only seen her daughter’s steps on video.

The last time Leslie saw Cheyenne in person, she would take a few tentative steps and stumble.

So to finally see her walking, much less running, is nothing short of a miracle, a taste of everything her little girl will be able to accomplish in life.

For years, 24-year-old Cyd has been hoping “kids don’t tease” Cheyenne and “wondering if she’s going to have a boyfriend.”

But when Cheyenne bounded into her arms Tuesday night, she thought, “I’ll never forget this feeling.”

“I looked at her and said, ‘I know what the doctors say, but we believe in God and miracles do happen,’” Grandma Leslie said.
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