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An Update: Hezekial Michael's Story (Hezekial "Hezzi" Michael Rosenberg, aged 3 1/2) (~Part One~) by Karen Lynn Vidra, The Texas Tornado
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
Rated "G" by the Author.
An update on the little boy featured in an earlier story I did about him entitled "C.P.R.!: STAT!"
My name is Sarah Anne Rosenberg, and I live in Prescott, Arizona, with my husband, Abraham ("Abe"), and our three children, Hanna (now 6), Hermoine (now aged 8), and Hezekial ("Hezzi") Michael, who is now 3 1/2 years old. As you can probably tell by our names, we are Jewish.
We seem to be a typical, happy All-American family who lives in a big, roomy house in the middle of suburbia in the city of Prescott, Arizona. But one look at our youngest son, Hezekial, and right away, people start asking questions about him and why he is the way he is.
I wrote about him last year, when he was two years old. He was an active little toddler who loved to roam, and on that unfortunate day, he happened to wander in our backyard, and he accidentally fell into the family swimming pool when he got too close to the edge of the pool. What happened next would change his (and our) lives forever, and now because of it, he is now no longer the same little boy we knew and loved, and he is now a shell of his former self. He was without oxygen for over a half hour, and now, because of it, he is damaged physically as well as mentally. At the age of three, he is more like a very young infant needing total care with about everything he does.
Hezzi is now three years old, but he is more like an infant. He is in a wheelchair, and he can't sit up by himself. He is tube-fed, and he will probably never recover. Doctors do not hold out much in the way of hope for our little boy, and he will probably always need 24-hour medical care. He has to be bathed, dressed, and diapered like a little infant, and as I said, he can no longer eat by himself without the ever-present danger of his choking on his saliva or mucus that gathers in the back of his throat. He can no longer swallow, and he is now subjected to dangerous and frightening respiratory episodes that can very easily kill him if one isn't very careful. He is hopelessly brain-damaged, and he has cerebral palsy, and he has been undergoing a daily regimen of physical, occupational, and other therapies, in the hopes of trying to bring him back; but there have been very little gain in his progress, and there is NO telling as to whether he will EVER emerge from his damaged self.
Every day I look at Hezzi, and I blame myself for his accident because both Abe and myself should have paid more attention to our littlest child; but we got distracted somehow; and this is all that it takes before an accident to take place and changes the way of life in which you were familiar with. It's like a nightmare that won't end, and we keep hoping that it is all a horrible dream, but I look at Hezzi sitting in his wheelchair, oblivious to all activity that is going on around him, and at once, my eyes fill with tears, and my heart is stabbed. Repeatedly.
Our two girls have had it rough, trying to adjust to their little brother's problems, and more than once, I have heard our younger girl, Hanna, say that "she hates her brother and that he is no fun anymore", and it causes me to cry. I can understand her anger about what has happened to her brother, but each time I hear her say those words, it's like a part of me is dying, and I can't handle her ongoing grief or anger. She and her sister both have been seeing a therapist at the local mental health clinic every week, to talk about their feelings towards their little brother, but she still has days where she expresses her disgust or anger towards Hezekial, even though it is NOT her (or HIS) fault that he is the way he is.
Abe has had it rough too because he is the one paying Hezzi's ongoing medical bills; and we are so far behind it is not even funny. We are in danger of losing our house and our possessions, and I am scared to death that we will find ourselves on the street, homeless, with nobody to turn to for help in our present time of need. Abe is also stressed out because he is in danger of losing his job due to downsizing, and frankly, I don't know how we are going to manage trying to pay past due bills or take care of the house AND take care of three young children, including one who is now hopelessly brain damaged and physically handicapped.
the families of children who suffer devastating illness and accidents also are hurting as well--thank you for touching on this in this important write.
