After 10 years, new adventures for septuplets

Kenny: Performing surgery on said child ... It looks like a giant spider bite. Uh oh, maybe you'll become Spiderman.

Nathan Roy may have winced at the removal of a splinter, but he has been as brave as his favorite superhero during far more serious interventions to help him walk.

As a baby, he was struggling to sit up and to roll over when the other kids were already crawling.  The diagnosis: cerebral palsy, which is a broad term for neurological disorders that impair the brain's ability to control movement and posture.

Nathan suffers from "spastic diplegia," which makes his leg muscles extremely rigid and difficult to control.  But his willpower is virtually bionic.

Bobbi: Clear from when he was a tiny baby still on the floor, you could see the determination that he had.

By two years old, leg braces and physical therapy helped him muster the strength to take baby steps.

Bobbi: He is so proud. The cheesy little grin that he gives you when he's walking… If you only saw one of those in a day, it'd be worth getting up in the morning.

Free video   A true professional Ann talks to Nathan about how he handles being on TV like a professional. Dateline NBC

With parents who refused to coddle him, Nathan learned to exercise his ingenuity.

Routine Botox injections relaxed his muscles and improved his mobility, though, at four, he cringed at the thought of the needle.

(from year five)
Nathan: Mom, I don't like that stuff.
Bobbi: But it makes your legs feel better, doesn't it?
Nathan: The medicine is going to be all better.

By seven, he had gained speed, skill, and strength.

But he couldn't walk very far unassisted.  To improve his chance for independence, he underwent two major surgeries at Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare in St. Paul, Minnesota.

During the first surgery, a selective dorsal rhizotomy, doctors cut more than 60 nerve rootlets in his back to loosen his muscles.  He spent six weeks in the hospital relearning how to sit, stand, and walk. Eventually, Nathan could move in ways once impossible for him.

In the second operation 15 months ago, his feet were realigned and reshaped with bone grafts to provide better support. The doctors also rotated his thigh bones and lengthened his Achilles tendons and lower leg muscles.

After a painful recovery, intense rehabilitation, and ongoing physical therapy, Nathan has given new meaning to the saying "look ma, no hands!"

Ann Curry: What can you do now that you couldn't do before?
Nathan: Get up a lot faster, so I’m not far behind anymore.

No more surgeries are looming – they’re just a lingering day dream.

(from year seven)
Ann Curry: Do you know what you want to be when you grow up?
Nathan:  Spiderman.
Ann Curry: What powers do you want?
Nathan: The web. Like Spiderman.
Ann Curry: You want to fly?
Nathan: Yeah.
Ann Curry: You know, to be Spiderman, you have to bit by a spider.
Nathan: I know, but that wouldn't really happen.

To his parents, Nathan is already a superhero.

Kenny: He was determined to conquer this physical impediment. That's what his legacy might be. You know, I think his determination comes from God too.

"Exuberant" is how the McCaugheys describe Alexis May.

Bobbi:  Alexis has got to be one of the most outgoing people I have ever met in my whole life. There's nothing small in her world. It's all huge and it's all exciting.

She, too, has cerebral palsy -- though she is more floppy than stiff.  "Hypotonic quadriplegia" makes some of her muscles incredibly weak.  As a baby, she couldn't hold any position on her own.  On top of it all, she battled acute eating problems and had to be tube-fed for four years.
But Alexis has had her own victories.

Kenny: Yeah, Lexi May!

At three, she was pushing herself forward with a walker and by five, she was on a roll.

Leg braces, injectable medications, and years of routine physical therapy  have enabled her to move more freely, but it's still hard work.  At school, she has no choice but to walk, yet when left to her own devices, she reverts to crawling.  As incentive to stay upright, her parents have promised her a new set of wheels.

Alexis: If I walk all by myself I get my first car.
Ann Curry: That's a pretty big challenge. You've got to practice.
Alexis: I want to practice, but I don’t have that much time to do it.
Ann Curry: When you think about growing up and having a car--
Alexis: Yeah.
Ann Curry: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Alexis: A teacher -- or -- not a doctor because all the blood things.

Alexis: What is that?
Nurse: This is your leg.

Alexis is being evaluated to see if she is a candidate for any surgical procedures.

Dr. Marcie Ward: All you have to do is say “ow” if anything is hurting you.

Whether she has the potential to walk without assistance remains to be seen.

Bobbi: Whatever happens that's fine. And it doesn't change who she is.

Video   Alexis asks about TODAY Alexis asks Ann about how she likes her job working for the TODAY SHOW and also makes a special request. Dateline NBC

Cerebral palsy can also impair intellectual abilities.

Teacher: I’m going to pass out problems of the day for math.

Alexis is in fourth grade like her brothers and sisters, but spends much of her day in special classes.

Ann Curry: How are you doing in school?
Alexis: I’m doing really good, but I’m trying my best to do -- passing my spelling tests and reading tests and I don't really do a good job on it because I missed six on my last spelling test.
Ann Curry: Why are you smiling?
Bobbi: She's about a year behind in curriculum. But for where she's at, she's doing very well.

The McCaugheys knew that having septuplets greatly increased the odds for cerebral palsy, which may be caused during pregnancy, delivery, or in the weeks after birth. Some criticized their decision not to selectively reduce.  But Bobbi and Kenny have always said they would accept whatever challenge God places in their hands.

Ann Curry: Knowing now where Alexis is, do you feel any regret about your decision to carry all seven babies?
Bobbi: How could I? Look at Alexis. There's not a person in this world who loves being alive more than she does. How could I feel sorry that I had all of my children?
Kenny: The answer will be the same from now until 100 years. We don't regret it at all.

The religious beliefs that have influenced her parents are a guiding force in Alexis’s life now, too.

Ann Curry: So do you think God helps you?
Alexis: Yeah. He's right here now.
Ann Curry: Where is he?
Alexis: Inside me.
Ann Curry: What's he like?
Alexis: He's saying “come up.”
Ann Curry: Come up?
Alexis: To heaven, I mean … He's not going to say it until a while I hope.

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