Patty Bruce. 7. of Pontiac. Mich., crippled since birth

Patty Bruce. 7. of Pontiac. Mich., crippled since birth by a severe spinal birth defect,

learned by happy^ccident

when she was little more than three years old that she could walk without braces or crutches. ,

It was a hut summer day and her mother had set aside Patty's crutches, removed the braces from her legs and stood the pretty little blonde in a neighbor's backyard f wading pool. "It was like a miracle," Mrs. Bruce recalls, "She began j to walk right through the : water."

After that day, Patty, who was born with leg-paralyzing open spine and deformities of both feet, practiced and exercised until she needed neither braces nor crutches on dry land If there is a miracle in her story, however, it has nothing to do with the water

Dr Donita B Sullivan, director of the March of Dimesfir.anced Birth Defects Center at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, explained, "With proper physical therapy and other treatment over a period of time, children like Patty often develop enough muscle power to w a 1 k without the support of braces "

Today, for a girl who had 'such a slow start. Patty can do a swinging job with a hoola hoop But life ha> been a long, uphill struggle

Patty's fight to live like children born free of handicaps began in Pontiac* when she came into the world prematurely, weighing only 31 pounds She was the first of fraternal twins. and her brother, Mike, was also horn with a birth defect

Doctors detected a heart murmur in the lad. indicating possible congenital heart defects. and have been seeing him once a year since birth. I

Patty's condition required I immediate attention When she : was three months old. she was 1 taken to the Birth Defects Center in Ann Arbor where neurosurgeons performed corrective surgery on her back After that, her deformed feet were treated, first cv ith casts, then with braces and now with exercise only The little gir. nas returned to the Mac h of