“The phone rang. I grabbed a notepad, a pen, took a deep breath. How do you prepare yourself to answer a call with the results of whether your 18-month-old daughter is going to die? My mind shut off. All the air left the room. ‘Very serious, no cure yet, not sure, lots of research.'”
‘As my daughter was giggling, bursting with love in the next room, I was learning she wouldn’t be growing up at all.’ Mom’s 18-month-old daughter diagnosed with ‘Childhood Alzheimer’s’
‘I woke up from the anesthesia. ‘Is it closed?’ My family nodded. I couldn’t get pregnant. I feared passing it on to my kids. I knew my life would change, but didn’t understand how much.’
“I questioned whether I’d ever have boyfriends, if someone would ever love me enough to marry me. I was weird looking. I was different. I kept telling myself I didn’t need kids. Then, I met a man and my life did a 180. I wanted a family and kids so badly.”
‘I imagined my father-daughter dance being perfect. But, he couldn’t hear the words. He cried the entire time. Not tears of joy. But, of sadness and disappointment.’
“My dad anxiously waited to hear. My mom, sisters, and I said the words: ‘I love you.’ Words he never heard his children say. But my dad broke down and cried. He cried, because he COULDN’T hear.”
What this mom of kids with special needs wishes people wouldn’t say to her
“I SEE YOU. Not just the special part. THE WHOLE PART.”
