Sunday Morning

Quad moms: Portraits of mothers with disabilities

By David Morgan

June 11, 2023 / 8:39 AM EDT / CBS News

In 2009 Dani Izzie, then 23, slipped on a bathroom floor and snapped her neck, paralyzing almost everything from her chest down. But that did not stop her from getting married, and having babies – twins! She and her husband Rudy are the subjects of the documentary "Dani's Twins."

Dani Izzie

Dani is a quadriplegic, with paralysis in both her lower and upper limbs. But thankfully her paralysis isn't complete. "My hands are paralyzed, so my fingers, I can't move them individually," she said. "And my triceps specifically are paralyzed in my arms. And then my core, my abdominals, and my back muscles are paralyzed."

In the documentary Dani notes, "Society doesn't think we're capable of being good parents. It's prejudice, pure and simple."

Dani Izzie

Dani Izzie with her husband, Rudy, and their twin girls, Lavinia and Giorgiana. While she has found support online in raising children while paralyzed, Dani admits that she has also received her share of trolling as well. "There can be people around who say it's not normal. And this is proof, 'Well, yeah, it is.'"

Quad Squad

Dani launched a private Facebook support group called Quad Squad. With about 400 members, many of them moms, they understand each other in ways others perhaps can't. "We share pictures with each other. We get our questions answered, share our experiences," Dani told "Sunday Morning."