To Table of Contents that we were ever having this discussion , though it had felt like Nathan ’ s disability was all we talked about over the years . I was moved by the depth of the feelings of each member of my family following the diagnosis and beyond . At the time of Nathan ’ s birth , his siblings were very young – 8 , 6 and 4 . Yet the impact was profound , and what was worst , I was so wrapped up in my own grief that I didn ’ t realize how much they were hurting .
I am grateful that before Nathan was born , we were already a close-knitted family . Somehow > ,
> we were able to transcend the
> challenges and grow even more close , so that Nathan has an impenetrable wall of support surrounding him . Today , his siblings are 24 , 22 and 20 , and I have to jokingly remind them that Nathan has only one mom , because they all act like they are his parents ( it brings a smile to my face every time I think about this ).
Nathan is a much like a typical child in many ways . He is brilliant , vivacious , and social young man . Though he has gone through more health issues than most and lives with a very debilitating disability ( cerebral palsy ), he is joyful and wears a “ million Dollar Smile !”. He is extremely passionate about life , love to go on trips ( we were once lost for 14 hours in Florida and while the rest of us panicked , it was merely an adventure for him ). He likes school of the social activities , hate schoolwork and his favorite pastime is watch TV . We have always tried to give him as many opportunities as his siblings , so he has his own special brand of swimming ( one leg beating the water at a time ), athletics -he participated in the wheelchair at his old school in Jamaica ( was the only person who went backwards in his chair ) and tries his had at floor ball ( football for children with disabilities ). He was in the dance club at his old school in Jamaica and dabbled