Morgan's Inspiration Island is the world's very first fully
accessible water park had it's grand opening this year on June 17th.
Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that Noah would be blessed
with the opportunity to visit it, much less on opening
season. We learned of a local organization who grants children
adventure trips through Noah's participation with HopeKids called Brave
Young Hearts. I sat on the idea for weeks before applying and delayed a couple weeks more, before
actually submitting the required
application for consideration. I think I've grown too accustomed to
bad news and the word no, and continual rejection in any form is
painful. But Papa Bear, one of the board of directors of Brave Young Hearts, was persistent and kept encouraging me to apply regardless
of the all the reasons I could think of that Noah would likely be
rejected. A long shot I thought - Noah's wish to travel out of state
to San Antonio, Texas to experience for the first time in his life a
water park that was designed to be fully accessible for children
just like him.
And to our complete surprise and extreme delight Noah was chosen
for an adventure trip. I think I had re-read the email about six or
seven times before I really could believe it. Then I said don't get your
hopes up because what if there are strings attached
like you've got to pay airline fees, or hotel room or provide for
things like our own food allowance or rental car - none of which we
could do. Yet, Brave Young Hearts set all our concerns at ease
immediately taking care of every single detail of Noah's trip
from big to small. We were in just awe of this incredible and
unexpected blessing to come Noah's way.
The timing was divine in it's own way. It's been a hard year,
financially, emotionally and medically as we've fought our way through a
lot this year. I would be lying if I said it didn't take it's toll on
the entire family in some way. Our reserves
were low. Nothing about our lives feels remotely normal. And here
Noah was given a chance to experience being normal - in a world designed
around his needs and not the other way around.
Noah's trip was planned for the very last weekend the water park
was open for the season. And we counted down the days as if we were
waiting on Christmas. Luke even more excited as Brave Young Hearts is
such an incredibly loving organization that they
went out of their way to include Noah's little brother Luke in this
adventure trip and blessed Luke with a day at SeaWorld. Which is huge
in Luke's world. Since around the age of three, Luke has had a rather
unique obsession with ocean life - an in particular
orca whales. Brave Young Hearts coordinated lunch with Shamu and a day
at the park. A dream come true for both children - a parent's dream to
see both of their children incredibly happy at the same time.
We hopped a plane (after TSA issues that are always present when we
fly with Noah), said a little prayer that his wheelchair would survive
the trip, and a leap of faith that all would be beyond incredible once
we landed in Texas. Our first night was a
little rocky. Noah always gags and vomits on take offs and landings,
however he vomited a bit more than usual on this trip. No one really
knows why. Noah's severe sensory processing disorder can be very
unpredictable at times. He never fully recovered
from his SPD episode on the plane and wound up gagging and throwing up
into the late hours in Texas, going though the only 2 sheets I packed
for his special needs travel bed, three showers and 2 pajamas later.
We weren't concerned with Noah being sick -
we knew this was sensory related, but nonetheless overwhelming for him
and for us. Chris and I starred at each other dazed and tired both
hoping that Noah would rebound to normal to enjoy Morgan's Inspiration
Island the next day.
We had a late start - sleeping in until 9:30am and missing
breakfast. But we got our engines running and Noah was full of smiles
by the next morning. He had settled into a level of comfort and was
ready to explore the day and we were relieved that his
SPD episode seamed to be over. We hopped into the rental van (which
was perfect for Noah's needs and felt like this travel security blanket
while we were away from home), and headed out for a day of fun at
Morgan's Wonderland and Morgan's Inspiration Island.
We were drawn to the accessible ferris wheel. I've never seen
anything like it before anywhere. Little bell shaped cabins with an
accessible option to tie down Noah's wheelchair so he could enjoy the
ride. It was really windy so the cabin bells swayed
quite a bit which can cause a bit of motion sickness... although Noah
seemed to breeze through that more than the rest of the family did. But
he enjoys motion in a different way than the rest of us do. It was
neat to be able to do that with Noah - something
that we can't do anywhere else in the world. We rode the accessible go
carts, played at a bit at the sensory village before we headed over to
Inspiration Island which opened an hour later than the rest of the
park.
When you walk into Inspiration Island you are greeted with an
attendant that assists you with your water park needs. For Noah that
meant he needed to be fitted with a waterproof wheelchair for the park.
Our attendant was Louisa and she was exceptional.
She looked over Noah and immediately knew his needs and what he would
need for positioning and what size wheelchair he would need. Let me
tell you all that Noah's DME (Durable Medical Equipment Provider) still
can't do this. And Louisa - bless her heart
- is simply amazing. She is gifted and she cares. She does her job so
well. Too well as I wanted to pack her up and bring her home. The
girl knows her equipment and what children like Noah need.
Within minutes she had picked out the right sized Convaid
Waterproof wheelchair for Noah, fitted him with beaded head support and
the right sized harness. She also knew that Noah would need hip
positioning and had a small wedge pillow but then went even
further as she didn't want him sticking to the plastic so she lined it
with a piece of neoprene fabric. She had covered every single important
detail. Louisa was pure gold.
The changing stations are magnificent. There are several of them
with large barn doors, with enough room to accommodate an entire family
with all the changing table accommodations one could ever dream and hope
for. Some rooms had ceiling lifts, some
had fixed tables, some had power tables that lowered and raised. If
you had an ADA need it was all there. They even have air powered
waterproof power wheelchairs - and those are so cool. I mean super
cool. Whoever dreamed that up deserves a high five and
a fist bump.
We hadn't had lunch so decided to have lunch at the park. There
are actually two restaurants at Inspiration Island but only one was open
since it was the closing weekend for the park. They had a great
variety to chose from, typical amusement park food,
but fun for the entire family. The benches were all accessible and in
the shade. After we had a bite to eat it was then time to get our feet
wet - literally.
Noah had never seen a water park before, and never had been
splashed by water or or near fountains in his life. So it was a
completely new experience for him. The first time he felt the water
from a small fountain he laughed and instantly understood
water equals fun. Happy squeals and infectious laughter followed and
my heart just swelled. Thank goodness it was a water park because my
eyes swelled with happy tears (and certainly I didn't want the rest of
the world to notice). These are the kinds of
experiences everyone dreams about when you have a child like Noah. A
parent like me literally lives for our child's happiness. Noah is
forced to enjoy the world around him differently because of his physical
limitations but at Inspiration Island nothing
is out of reach for him. Nothing. He can do every single activity
there with ease.
We decided to do the water ride before the remainder of the water
park. The water ride is so cool. It is fully accessible too with a hydraulic
ride that raises and lowers Noah's wheelchair so he can ride in the
back with us in the front as the lazy river
ride passes by fun animals, music and sound. It was relaxing and
wonderful and Noah loved it. We only rode it once due to time, and I
wish we had been able to ride it several more times. I really loved
it.
Most of the water park is not heated. Only one attraction of the
park is heated. But, we did all the non-heated areas first and the
water was comfortable - likely due to the hot temperatures in San
Antonio. But the entire family was comfortable with
the water temperature. We splashed, we played we ran around. Luke got
attached to a very small water slide and playfully engaged with other
little kids just like him. Everything you could ever wish for is at
Inspiration Island - comfortable cabanas, an
abundance of lawn chairs, multiple accessible bathrooms, incredible
changing rooms, waterproof wheelchairs both manual and power - loving
attendants, great food - loads of smiles from all families there. It's
like special needs utopia. There is not a single
thing that they could have done any better.
I wish so badly that we could find a way to give this experience to
Noah yearly. It is something I really think that children like Noah
really need in their lives. It is such a magical place and children
like him are so deserving of this happiness.
They have to go through so much - too much. And we all should strive
for this pure joy that exists at Morgan's. I wish a place like Morgan's
existed in every state. It's so needed. Morgan's is a living dream.
We stayed until they closed which was 4pm.
We didn't want to leave. We spent the last few minutes at the heated
section of the park. Oddly enough Noah couldn't get his body to go from
non-heated to heated. You would think it would be the other way
around. But since we experienced the heated park
last his body actually shivered in the heated section. We've always
known that Noah can't regulate body temperature but it was curious to us
that his body actually shivered in the warm water and no where else -
almost as if his body was confused going from
non-heated to heated. The opposite of how the rest of us would react.
We decided it was probably best to bundle him up and dry him off
although he certainly didn't want to leave and started to give us the
pouty lip. Which of course breaks your heart every
time knowing that his fun has come to an end and that I can't bring him
back the next day, or next week or even likely next year no matter how
hard I wish for it.
Brave Young Hearts provided Noah with such an incredible blessing
and we are so grateful for the love and kindness that they gave not just
to Noah but the entire family. Out of a place of great pain with the
loss of their own child, they are providing
so many beautiful memories and experiences to others so that they joy
they are missing can live on for others. There are sometimes not enough
words to ever express a proper thank you for the magnitude of it all.
Morgan's Inspiration Island is a place you must visit. You won't be disappointed. It is pure perfection.
Love,
Noah's Miracle by Stacy Warden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.