Almost exactly one year ago, Susan Lucci‘s grandson Brendan — who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was a toddler — underwent a selective dorsal rhizotomy, which involved cutting some sensory nerves in the lower spinal cord in order to make it easier for him to walk.
And now, not only is Brendan strutting red carpets, but he’s hitting the slopes as well.
“He’s skiing!” the soap-opera legend, 70, told PEOPLE of milestones the 8½-year-old reached recently at the ADAPT Community Network (formerly United Cerebral Palsy NYC)’s 70th Anniversary Gala Thursday night in New York City.
