When I was just six days old.... I started having labored breathing. Mommy and Daddy thought something was wrong so they called my doctor and I was taken to the hospital. They ran all kinds of tests and they came back negative, but still I was breathing strange. I was admitted for observation. The next morning I had a seizure that altered my life.

I was airlifted to another hospital where I was intubated and in a coma for two weeks. My kidneys began to shut down and my parents were not given much hope. To everyone's surprise I began to respond to the medicine and began breathing over my ventilator and began to expel the water, showing that my kidneys were beginning to function once again. I was taken off the ventilator and used a g-tube for the next week. I then was taken off the tube and taught how to take a bottle again. I even learned how to breast feed again!

After three MRI's, five spinal taps, one CT scan, two EEG's, and many blood tests later, it was decided that I had an Acute Hypoxic Ischemic Event that resulted in total injury to my occipital lobe and other portions of my brain.  As a result, I have Cerebral Palsy that challenges my physical development. I also have what they call Cortical Vision Impairment and will have to learn to process the images my eyes see because my brain does not process them. I was diagnosed with Infantile Spasms, but an intense series of steroid shots allowed my brain to gain some brain organization. I live with Epilepsy due to my seizures. The doctors question whether I'll ever be able to walk or talk, but my family believes in me. They have taken me home and have been taking me to therapy ever since. I am learning all the time and may not be what I once might have been, but I'm learning to be the best that I can be now. I'm loved and cherished.
 

Go find someone you love and tell them so.

Hug them for no reason.
Play with them, and pray with them.

-- Patrick, Kimberly, Michael, Sydney, Ethan, Erin, and Makenzie

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