Cerebral Palsy Man Cured Through Dancing

28 Jan 2010: This is an amazing story about a man who defied all odds to walk without being stared at anymore. Gregg Mozgala is 31 years old and was born with Cerebral Palsy, so he was never able to walk without his knees pointing inwards and his heels lifting off the ground.

Cerebral Palsy is a neurological disorder with no cure; it can affect movement, speech, hearing, balance and can result in learning difficulties. In Gregg’s case, it is an inability of his brain to connect with his muscles; Gregg says it can be very frustrating.

In Australia, around 1 in 400 children are born with CP, the extent of the disorder may not be known until the child fails to reach typical milestones, like crawling, walking and talking.

Gregg is an actor and was performing in a Romeo and Juliet play when choreographer, Tamar Rogoff saw him and dreamt about him one day performing ballet.

Gregg had been through years of physical therapy and specialist appointments to try to assist him with walking, but even the doctors said there was nothing more that could be done for him and he would always walk with a wobbly stride.

Gregg and Tamar got together, not with hopes of curing Gregg’s CP, but to allow him to get his heels on the ground and be able to gain some balance to help him perform ballet. After eight long months of training with movements and stretching, Gregg can now walk with almost no sign that he was ever affected by CP.

He can now perform ballet, this miraculous occurrence has inspired other rehabilitation centres to begin dance therapy and given hope to other CP sufferers.

Gregg’s new sense of freedom has felt like a dream come true, now he can experience such wonderful personal changes and also deliver a beautiful piece of art at the end of it.

All of his hard work seemed to have paid off with his flawless performance in “Diagnosis of a Faun” with a Manhattan Ballet Company.

To view Gregg’s story that was featured on Good Morning America, follow this link - http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/HealthyLiving/odds-dancing-cerebral-palsy/story?id=9596192

Greg training with Tamar


Gregg training with Tamar


Gregg's performance