"Bibulous" girl with cerebral palsy gets surgery

A Chinese teenager with cerebral palsy who grabbed national attention for her heavy self-medication with alcohol to relieve pain, had an operation on Thursday.

Cheng Xin from east China's Jiangxi Province had the minimal-invasive surgery at a Beijing hospital, paid for by the China Social Assistance Foundation.

Cheng was born prematurely and diagnosed with the condition when she was six months old. Her family poured more than 400,000 yuan (about 61,600 U.S. dollars), mostly borrowed, into her treatment.

In recent years, she spent most of her time lying stiff, face down on her bed. In 2015, she started relying on alcohol, drinking about half a liter a day to dull the ache brought on by her many tics.

Professor Tian Zengmin, who performed the operation, said there was a 70 percent chance that the operation would improve her situation.

Cheng is expected to be discharged from hospital in two or three days. Endi