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Drew Paxton, 10 sits in her front yard in Savannah Wednesday afternoon. Drew has cerebral palsy and through her involvement in the Girl Scouts has become more social than ever.

Drew Paxton was the healthiest of Joy Paxton’s four children. But Ms. Paxton soon realized little Drew wasn’t rolling over, wasn’t crawling, wasn’t doing the things she thought babies were supposed to do.

The doctors told her to give it time. After all, Drew had been premature. “She just needed to catch up,” Ms. Paxton said she was told.

The Savannah, Mo., family was told their daughter had cerebral palsy when she was 10 months old. Her life is now led from a wheelchair, except for weekly physical therapy at United Cerebral Palsy, a United Way agency.

While she may be confined to the chair and other small limitations, there’s nothing Drew can’t do. The 10-year-old student at Minnie Cline Elementary School is involved not only at school, but with Girl Scouts, a local softball team and her younger sister’s Daisy troop.

With Troop 8124, she has gone to Omaha’s zoo with her cookie sale money. Last year, Drew was the highest seller in her troop, with 234 boxes sold. She even floated at Monkey Cove with her specially fitted swimsuit, given to her by UCP.

“It helps her to feel safe,” Ms. Paxton said. “She’s pretty independent, and we can’t find anything she can’t do.”

Life is normal for Drew, and her troop members and therapist at UCP help along the way.

“They include her in everything,” Ms. Paxton said of the Girl Scouts.

All scheduled trips and activities are planned ahead, ensuring they are wheelchair accessible. “If Drew can’t do it, they don’t do it,” Ms. Paxton said. “They care about me,” Drew adds.

Even at the traditional rite of passage — crossing a bridge to the next level of Girl Scouts — they were thinking of Drew.

“The bridge was too narrow,” said Deb Allison, area membership manager for Girl Scouts, a United Way agency. So a volunteer widened the bridge for her. “I wheeled across all by myself,” Drew said.

Ms. Paxton feels the good people in the family’s life make it easier on them. Drew’s physical therapist at UCP has been a lifesaver, she said. Drew has been seeing the same woman since she started therapy at the St. Joseph agency years ago. Her activities help her thrive.

“She can’t just run out and join any team,” Ms. Paxton said. “It has really helped her.”

Jennifer Hall can be reached at jennhall@npgco.com.