To look at him, you wouldn't expect much out of our son.
He spends his days in his bed, or when up, sitting up in his wheelchair. Our son, at nine, cannot talk or do much for himself: he requires twenty four hour medical care.
Our son was born this way. He was born with cerebral palsy and brain damage after the doctor (since stripped of his medical license due to gross injury and neglect to a child) accidentally dropped our son soon after he was delivered.
As you can imagine, we had a very hard time trying to forgive him of the harm/mental anguish he caused our family. Just because of one mistake, our son is now marked for the rest of his life, never to be the same again.
Our son is nonverbal, blind (he can hear, though), unable to walk, eat on his own, dress himself, or do anything for himself. He'll never learn how to read or write, play sports, go on a date, talk, learn to drive a car, or even live on his own. He'll always need someone to take care of his most basic needs, including getting dressed, fed (he's fed by a tube in his stomach every four/five hours), changed, or getting his meds.
Our son is prone to respiratory infections that have nearly killed him on several occasions. He's often in and out of the hospital; one never knows when he will get sick. That's probably one of the hardest things to deal with because he's so medically fragile.
Even with all the drawbacks we've faced over the last nine years, our son is still able to love, let us know with his eyes (or his noises) just how he is feeling. There's always a way to communicate with Ryan.
Living with such a child is a never-ending learning experience. It takes courage, tenacity, creativity, and stamina to deal with his frequent illnesses/hospital stays that tend to crop up. It isn't easy because we often have to plan our vacations around Ryan's needs, make sure where we stay is handicap-accessible, make sure that they can deal with whatever may crop up down the road.
Ambulances frequent our house every few months because Ryan has decided to have another respiratory crisis again or else he has a seizure that his meds cannot control; this is when we wish that we didn't have a child like Ryan becuase he takes time away from our other kids, our very own daily lives.
We don't get much time to ourselves or spend time with our other two children, six-year-old Piper Renae' or four-year-old Trenton Daniel, because we're always dealing with Ryan. We are past the point of exhaustion; we haven't had a break in over three years, and the stress level in our house has only gotten worse.
If anyone could help us out any, we would greatly appreciate it. We've had it up to hear with all the drama; we're long overdue for a change in our lives!
