Story of Hope to the prom

Now, here’s a story of hope. Tami Sessions watched with tears in her eyes as her 19-year-old son, dressed to the nines in a tux and a date by his side, crossed the stage for the prom walk at the Shamokin Area High School on May 13. Matthew Sessions was born premature with cerebral palsy caused by an intraventricular hemorrhage of the brain. The teenager, who can only communicate with an iPad program, is developmentally challenged and usually confined to a wheelchair, but on that day, he and his date walked across the stage with the assistance of a gait trainer. Matthew used his iPad communication program Prloquo2Go to ask Youells to the prom in front of the whole class and she happily accepted. Matthew then practiced for weeks to get stronger on the walker to surprise his mother and grandparents, who had never seen him walk before.