It's March. The month of Cerebral Palsy Awareness. You would think
that various conditions don't need awareness, but we are so far off as a
collective society from tolerance of understanding of not just cerebral
palsy but those living with and who love those who have special needs.
I
shouldn't have to be in a check out lane in a store and have a cashier
ask me "What's wrong with him?" and when I answered with Noah's
diagnosis was scolded in front of a line of other people because she
believed they made a vaccine for what Noah has and I was an
irresponsible parent that caused his illness.
Yes, awareness is certainly needed.
If
you've come to read this blog you may not even realize it but your life
has been touched by a little boy who has a severe form of Cerebral
Palsy. Noah's life and his story have inevitably had an impact on you.
Whether that means you hold your children tighter because you
are thankful that they were spared a life altering affliction, or made
you more aware of medical negligence while you are someone you knew was
expecting a baby.
Some of you may have learned from Noah's story
some of our pain so you knew how to interact with children like ours so
you didn't view them as not offering the world any significant value or
being too broken to love.
Maybe you found Noah's story because
you were looking for comfort and advice and something inspirational
because you are a family just like ours and you know the bittersweet
journey and wanted to connect with us.
Or you feel led - almost
as if divine intervention showed you the way to Noah's blog because you
knew a little boy named Noah needed your prayers and your well wishes,
and his family continues to struggle and needs all the support they can
find or because you know Miracles do exist and you love following the
story of a little boy that has defied all odds and is still here with us
today.
It doesn't matter how you found us, or why you are here
because your life has been touched by Noah. A little boy with Cerebral
Palsy.
His life matters. And he has so much to teach the world
about being gentle, kind, loving and most of all understanding of things
that are simply beyond our control. His diagnosis isn't contagious,
but his laughter and beautiful spirit is. It takes him less than a
handful of seconds to melt your heart with his crystal blue eyes. He
offers you a silent lesson in unconditional love. He is not to be
feared, his wheelchair isn't as scary as it looks, and he yearns to be
included just as much as his family caring for him.
We are a
voice of Cerebral Palsy. A condition that effects over 17 million
people worldwide. A number I believe that can be significantly
decreased with awareness and more adequate medical professional training
to reduce what is happening to so many children - a completely avoidable
birth injury for so many. I would like to believe there is a reason
that our lives were effected by this life-altering tragic set of events
causing Noah to have Cerebral Palsy, that somehow God, or whatever you
believe in - the powers that be - knew I would be that strong voice to
try to make positive changes to ensure that others didn't have to follow
in our footsteps.
Without Awareness Nothing Can Change
Love,
Noah's Miracle by Stacy Warden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.