My daughter, Brooke Paisley, lives with a little understood condition known as Williams syndrome, which has caused mental (and behavioural) issues, accompanying physical features (snub nose, small teeth, underdeveloped jaw, small fingers and toes, small eyes, curly hair, etc.), and us searching for answers as to why my only daughter had to be born with this disability.

Brooke often has temper tantrums; she gets frustrated easily.  This is why she attends a special school for children with disabilities, so teachers and other aides can work with her one-on-one, to make sure she gets the attention she needs.  She is six years old.

Besides Brooke, we have a son, Myles, who is eight.  He is perfectly healthy.  We don't know why he wasn't born affected with Williams, but we are grateful that he wasn't.  Having one child with a disability is hard enough; we couldn't imagine raising two.

Sometimes Myles gets frustrated with his sister, especially when she gets into one of her stubborn moods or whines; we get frustrated too.  Sometimes we feel like we're the only people on the planet who has to deal with this syndrome; we know we are not, but before we had our daughter, we had never heard of it until after she was born six years ago.  Ever since, we have scoured the Internet, looking for all the information we can possibly dig up, so we can learn more about this condition, and hopefully, down the road,  help our daughter move towards independence or having at least a somewhat normal life.

We would do anything to help Brooke gain her full potential.  It is going to take a lot of patieince, ingenuity, and know-how to make sure that this happens.  It is going to be a trial-and-error thing; we just have to learn to take it one day at a time.

Well, I have to go.  I will write more about Brooke, Myles, and how we are coping in a future journal entry.  Until then, this is Cassidi Joy Yung saying so long!  Take care!

~Cassidy Joy, Richmond, Virginia.  :)

*to be continued.*