Our oldest child, Teagan Ravelle, is six, and the light of our lives. We can't imagine our world without her; she means that much to us.
Teagan was born with multiple disabilities. She is unable to see, walk, or even talk; yet she expresses herself very well, much to the amazement of other people whenever they come into contact with her. She is definitely one of a kind.
Teagan was born with cerebral palsy that's affected all four of her limbs. She is unable to sit up without help, and she is nonverbal, blind, and almost totally deaf. She sits in a wheelchair when up; when down for the night she lies in her hospital bed, where she plays until she goes to sleep.
Teagan loves to do many things: listen to music (she can hear via powerful hearing aids), listen to the sounds around her, be held in people's arms or laps, be read to, tickled, taken places. Wherever there's people, this is when her happy, bubbly personality is most evident.
There are days where she gets grumpy; fortunately, those are few and far between. She mainly laughs or sings in her special, silent way; for her a great big "Ahhhh!" is sufficient enough.
Sometimes our daughter gets sick (due to her inability to chew or swallow); she often ends up in the hospital with pneumonia or any other respiratory type illness. It is always a scary time whnever this happens because we are so scared she's going to die (she's come close to dying several times, but thankfully she came back; she's still with us by the grace of God!).
She is unable to eat: for this reason, she's fed by way of a special tube that's been placed into her stomach; we pour her nutrition suppliments (or her medications) down this tube; the stuff then goes directly to her stomach, where it's supposed to go. We do this every four hours, day and night, without fail; this is how we keep her hydrated, fed, medicated.
We have to do this or she will die.
Life with a child like Teagan isn't easy, but we've managed this far for six years; what's to say we won't have many more happy years together?? Only God knows the answer to that one; as long as we have her in our lives, we intend on enjoying Teagan as an integral part of our lives!
