My brother has Spina Bifida and it was a complete shock to whole the family when he was born as it hadn't shown up on the ultrasound. Seeing him whisked away for surgery so soon after being born was incredibly terrifying and stressful for the whole family, not to mention the stress he's experienced from various medical procedures over the years. Seeing medical advances like this make me really happy, I only wish they'd existed 25 years ago so they could help him.
My brother was the similar, could walk medium distances when young but these days he uses a wheelchair most of the time and only walks very short distances occasionally. I think it's mostly because his upper body has grown but his legs are less muscular and haven't been able to keep up and support his weight as well
I recently had major surgery and the hospital I stayed in in the UK absolutely encouraged both getting out of bed and sitting in a chair as well as dressing in your normal clothes as soon as possible. Even though I was in ITU the day after surgery and couldn't even sit myself up, they still got me up with support, moved the bed out from behind me and sat me in a chair for a few hours. A week later when I was on a normal ward they encouraged you to get dressed and had posters up around the ward suggesting it.