At age 2, doctors concluded cerebral palsy explained their movement problems. But by 5 1/2, their mother, Retta Beery, suspected something else. Alexis would wake up able to walk but by late morning couldn't even sit up or use her arms.
Beery read about a different disease named dopa-responsive dystonia, a neurological disorder that causes muscles to spasm and twist. It mimics some of cerebral palsy's symptoms but has those daytime fluctuations and is treatable with the Parkinson's drug levodopa. Sure enough, the twins' muscles began working so normally that over the next few years they played softball and basketball and ran track.
