Special Hopes and Dreams

Every medically fragile child has a story. Some thing or a collection of things went very wrong.

Maybe it was from conception with damaged or missing DNA. Maybe it was a trauma during pregnancy or delivery or childhood accident. Maybe it was human-caused by a person who was trusted to do the right thing and they failed miserably. sometimes it was intentional harm by another person.

Whatever it was, it hurts, both the innocent child and the entire family . And that hurt radiates to all the team of caregivers in that child's life.

Hopefully, you and your child are getting help for the web of complex medical needs for your child to first survive, and then to thrive to the best of their ability.

But what about you...the parent, the caregiver who is deeply involved in this child's life? what do you do with the grief, the regrets, the coulda, woulda, should as, the anger at those involved who were the cause , the bitterness, loneliness, the worry, fears, the heartache? How do you function well in all your other relationships while carrying this burden? Can you ever trust and love freely again?

There are no easy answers, no quick fix, no 5 step process for this kind of lfe-altering problem. You are on a path you would never choose and in a club no one wants to join.

but you are not alone. there is hope, deep friendships to come, inner strength to uncover, laughter and love ahead.

We will be doing a series of articles on this topic in weeks to come.

Karen Strauhal