Todd, like Jodie, has cerebral palsy and is mentally handicapped; but he is totally nonverbal while his younger sister is finally starting to speak after years of silence. Todd also has significant respiratory problems and is on oxygen a lot of the time.
He came to the family from Indiana. He is twelve years old.
Todd Michael Christopher Sandusky is a little angel.
He is very handsome, and he is very unassuming in nature. That is, he is extremely outgoing and loves people, but a lot of the time people don't even know he is there because he is so quiet. He is nonverbal: he is unable to talk; he was born mute.
He was also born severely physically and mentally handicapped.
He is unable to walk; and he will never ~BE~ able to walk. His body is too frail and too weak to hold up his slight, 30-pound frame, and he functions at the level of an infant. He was born severely brain damaged and mentally handicapped. He is in a wheelchair, and he needs help with just about every aspect of his personal affairs. He can't feed himself, he can't dress himself, he can't walk, and he can't even go to the bathroom on his own. He wears diapers, and he is tube fed by means of a gastro tube inserted into his belly; and he is fed through the tube (like his little sister, Jodie, who is a year younger).
Todd also happens to suffer from damaged lungs and asthma; and for this reason, he is often on oxygen. He is prone to respiratory sickness, and there have been many times where he has ended up in the hospital, gasping or fighting for every breath; and several times he has nearly died. This is why I have to do chest physiotherapy on him up to twice a day (more often if he is sick or congested). He is unable to suck or swallow, and this is one reason he is so prone to respiratory ills or asthma attacks.
Todd came to us at the age of eight from Indiana, here in the United States, and he was an only child. He had lived all of his life in a hospital until he came to our family, and he has since blossomed into a very handsome young man with short, curly, light-brown hair and big, brown eyes in a thin little face, and a winning smile that just lights up a room. He is surprisingly tiny: at the age of 12, he looks more like five, and his arms and legs resemble broken sticks. It is apparant at first glance just how severely handicapped he is; and it makes many people sad or uncomfortable.
Todd doesn't make noises or speak like Jodie does, but the very sight of him still causes eyes to gravitate in his direction, and people will point or whisper; and/or they will move away like Todd has some contagious disease or something like AIDS, and it makes us very sad. Todd isn't an object to be pitied or frowned upon: he is just a kid with significant disabilities that are beyond his control, and all we ask is for people to show him (or us) a little compassion, acceptance, or understanding. Todd is a child too, and people should treat him as one!
Like Jodie, Todd has taught us courage in the face of unbelievable handicaps affecting his ability to function in life, and he is a lot more than what the "outside package" may suggest.
Todd may not look like much with his wheelchair, oxygen prongs in his nostrils, drooly smile, or his palsied limbs, but he is a child, and he deserves to have a life; and he deserves to be treated with dignity and respect by others. He has also taught us to see the beauty in the world of the severely physically or mentally handicapped, and he has taught us about counting our blessings. He may bring pity out of some people, but he also brings out the best in people, and he always makes people realize just how fortunate they truly are becaues they could be in Todd's position; and suddenly, people's problems no longer seem so overwhelming or important.
This is so heartbreaking, but there is a reason for it, Karen. There's an old saying in my tongue, which roughly translated means the following:
For the blind person, it isn't because God couldn't find an eye for the them; for the lame, it isn't because God couldn't find a limb for them, but this is because there's a test in this for others.
I hope that made sense, karen. It sounds better in Somali, though!
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Todd Michael Christopher Sandusky is a little angel.
