Usually when I am writing this kind of a fundraising story, I am talking about my amazing and resilient wife, TIna, and her battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2007/2008. But when we decided to do something to celebrate her 15 year remission anniversary, we decided that we needed to also honor another Bodkin; our oldest son Tyler. You all know the story of Tina's resolute battle against cancer after Nick was born in 2007. The story you don't know is Tyler's.
When you think of a major illness in a family, rarely do you think of the effect that it has on the young children in the home. "Oh, they are so young, thank God they don't understand," or "Could you imagine if they knew what was going on," are common sayings when talking to people about major illnesses and young children in the home. Let me tell you, they know; no matter the age, no matter the kid, they know. As Tina resolutely battled her cancer diagnosis, Tyler began to have his own private battle. Small changes in his habits and his actions began to become prominent. Tyler had always been delayed developmentally, but we attributed that to all kids being different. Thankfully his pre school teacher picked up his changes pretty quickly. Tyler was always very smart, but was withdrawn and didn't like to play with the other children. He would pick up on conversations that were whispered down the hall. Something was off which we just attributed to the fact that Tina was sick and this is how he's reacting.
After many consultations, doctor visits, and evaluations, Tyler was diagnosed with PDD (pervasive developmental disorder), which was why he was always behind developmentally on the physical and social levels, but his mind was that of an older child, more inclined to problem solving and seeing patterns in everything. We quickly got him all the help he needed, and fought with anyone who would try to get in our way with why he shouldn't have gotten a service he needed on the pre school level. When it was time for kindergarten we knew he wouldn't be a "regular" kid and was put in a 12:1:1 class enviroment which he after he was put into a inclusion class for the first grade. While this was huge news it also came with a lot of changes which Tyler never was good at. It meant a new school, new friends, new surroundings all which were very scary. After the second grade we were told that he would once again have to move schools because our home school was finally getting inclusion classes. Once again a huge change for Tyler but he thankfully had a great teacher to which this day he will tell you she was his favorite. She made him feel included which was really hard becuase by thrid grade your friendships are already made and it's hard for an outsider to come in and be welcomed never mind an outsider who has "issues".
I am so happy to say that Tyler is now 18 years old he graduated high school being in regular classes and a part of the business honor society. Tyer now attends Nassau Community College where he was part of the football team with aspirations of a career in sports marketing. We are so proud of him and wanted to do something to celebrate this huge accomplishment so why now run a half marathon as a family!
Thank you for those who read this fully through as it was very long, I do thank you from the bottom of my heart and hope that you will consider donating to this most well deserved cause!!