Who Would Want a Child Like That?

I read this from Kristi's blog, an awesome mom to her son Billy. She wrote: "Its author dedicated it to a Canadian mom who lost her daughter at the hospital because the unwritten law for babies with Trisomy 13 in an emergency is DNR (Do Not Resuscitate). Imagine, going to a hospital expecting them to save your child, and not knowing that they put a 'do not save' without telling you."

Like her, I was also deeply touched by this writeup. May you other parents of special children draw strength and inspiration from this as well.

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I am told one doctor said to another about a woman wanting to bear and deliver a child with known disabilities: "But who would want a child like that anyway"?

Dear Doctor,

Who would want a child "like that"? A person who wants to learn about love! A person who wants to know about self-sacrifice. A person who wants to know more about the value of life, who wants to move beyond the understanding of owning stuff to the understanding of giving and emptying of the self!

Who wants a child "like that"? A person who is connected, a person who wants a challenge, a person who wants to face HELL and own HEAVEN right here, right now! A person who wants to grow and change and learn to navigate the waters of joy and despair, of choices deep, dark and profound.

photo borrowed from novita.org.au

Who wants a child "like that"? Someone strong who wants to learn about weakness. Someone weak who wants to learn about strength. A person who wants to change the world, a person who wants to change one person's world. A person who wants to cry hard and laugh harder. A person who wants to drink deeply from what is sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet.

In short, Who wants a child "like that"? A "parent" wants a child "like that"... their child ... and they want to have every chance to do their job well. They deserve every support medical and social, emotional and financial that it take to bring "that child's" life to fruition, to bring "that child's" gifts to the world into which "that child", for what ever reason, chose to enter.

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