TO JUSTIN'S PAGE
Hello!
Justin is our "special little gift". He has changed our life completely, but he has changed it for the best! He is 16 years old. The programs that they have set up for children like are wonderful and I know Justin enjoys ever minute of them!
In case you are wondering - Justin has Cerebral Palsy. Rather than go into a long drawn out explanation of what Cerebral Palsy is I've included some links that you can visit that explain it much better than I ever could. To be exact he has what is called "Spastic Quadraplegic" cerebral palsy meaning all four of his limbs are involved and it's the type of cerebral palsy where the muscles are rigid and tight - not loose and floppy. His is quite severe and he is unable to use his hands or legs. He also has Microcephaly (meaning small brain), this is where the brain either doesn't grow much or grows at an extremely slow pace - never developing to it's full size. Feeding is done through a G-tube in his stomach due to a bad swallow reflex that allows liquid to go into his lungs. He is blind as well and has a seizure disorder. He is also the sweetest little guy in the entire world!
Please, please, no one write me and tell me how sorry you feel for Justin! Although I appreciate the sentiment, Justin is a happy, content little boy. He knows life only by how he lives it and doesn't realize it isn't the same as everyone elses. So in Justin's world he's happy!
We have had many people comment on "how hard it must be" or "how do we handle it?" The answer is simply this: "Yes in the beginning it was hard to deal with and hard to handle. Only because it was not what we expected! Since then we have dealt with it, accepted it and moved on. Having Justin is no different than having any other child, you love him, care for him, and parent him just like we do any of our other children. Yes, he needs a little extra care but that has become part of our everyday lives and seems "normal" to us. Of course we sometimes worry a little more about Justin than our other kids but only because he is a little more fragile. I think mostly it all boils down to accepting the situation - once we accepted that what had happened to Justin happened, we were able to get on with our lives. Now we don't view our lives as any different than anyone else.
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