I am so excited to run Grandma's Marathon for the 4th year in a row! As I was thinking about registering, I decided this year to do something different....
As many of you know, Charlie is my 9 year old son. He is full of life, love and energy. He is rough and tumble little boy who always gives 10000%. (Hence the 8 broken bones already J) He is a competitive Gymnast and Soccer player that keeps him busy year round! Thinking back to the day he was born and the journey he was about to go on, we weren't sure if we were going to get here. The Doctors at Children's changed his life and ours, and we are forever grateful.
It all started March 19th, 2009. Charlie came into this world exactly how he lives his life, fast and furious! It was in those early minutes that we realized he wasn't OK. Charlie didn't have anything in particular wrong, he has many little things wrong. We spent 2 weeks in the NICU and it wasn't until the 4th day that we could even hold him. I will never forgot the feeling of watching my baby struggle to breath and not being able to comfort or hold him....the nurses and Drs. that we worked with everyday were the only thing that keep us going. Charlie eventually stabilized and we were able to take him home. Thinking that was just a fluke and we went about our lives as a new family of 4. It was at his 1 month appt. that we got the first hurdle which then turned into a massive snowball of issues we would deal with for the next 9 years. I won't go into all them but to give you an idea of things Charlie has had to put up and amazing Drs. at Children’s who have been with us every step of the way.. Charlie has dealt with Craniosynostosis, Hernia Surgery. MRSA (I don't wish this on anyone), HSP (This was a crazy vascular infection), immune deficiency, Sinus Surgery so he can breathe through his nose, Asthma and Allergies. We have been to Children's more times than I can count and each time they treat us like family. Each hospital stay, especially the emergency life threatening ones, are so hard on the family and every act of kindness by the staff goes such a long way.
Today, thanks to Charlie's Pulmonologist and ENT, he is leading a healthy active life! We see his Drs. every three months and feel so blessed to have this amazing facility right in our backyard. Every year Charlie gets stronger and relies on less and less medication. This is a lifelong battle for all of us but know that Children's are the soldiers marching with us.
