Cherish your children

When Lilyana was born, I remember staring at her while I held her in my arms for the first time, welling up with pride as I fought back the tears. I remember looking at her and thinking “She’s the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen. She’s perfect!”

She was amazing! Just moments before hand she was still safely nestled in my wife’s belly. Still growing. Still developing. Now here she was. Exposed. Vulnerable. But, perfect.

Then Hayden was born and all those feelings and emotions came back again. There she lay. So vulnerable. So beautiful. So… perfect. So far, both my daughters continue to grow and develop. No problems. No ailments.

Sadly, my experience is not one that is shared by all. Not everyone experiences the same joy and emotion my wife and I experienced. Just a few days ago, my wife accepted a friend on Facebook. This was someone she’d known from school, I think. Her experience was very much like ours to start with. However, a few months later, her story took a very different direction to ours – She found out her son had Pompe’s disease.

This disease is a metabolic disorder that damages muscles and nerves throughout the body. Unfortunately, when this disorder presents in infants, it is usually fatal. This woman’s child was no exception.

This woman was forced to sit and watch as he baby slowly died over several months. He looked perfectly normal but his body was slowly degenerating.

As Jennifer was telling me this woman’s story, I couldn’t help but think how blessed we are to have not one, but two perfectly healthy children. While there are thousands upon thousands of families who have children with any number of disorders and disabilities in at least one child and we have been blessed to have not one, but two completely healthy children. No disorders, that we know of. No other physical ailments that we know of. No problems.

Just… perfect.