STUDENT SPOTLIGHT:
Amelia Alder
By: Katerina Alkhova
“ Gymnastics today?” asks my 5 year old daughter.“ No sweetheart, tomorrow. You have a ballet class today,” I answer with a smile.
Amelia is five and a half. She is a confident, brave and well-rounded individual. She takes horse back riding, swimming, ballet, gymnastics, piano and music lessons. Amelia also loves to read. Oh, and she was born with Down Syndrome. Now, after all the years of various struggles and turmoil, I have almost no problem saying it.
4 | THE BEACON
In August 2008, my husband brought me and our son to Tulsa from Belarus, a little country in Eastern Europe. When Amelia was born in 2011 and we found out that she had Down Syndrome it split our family. My Husband could not imagine a life with a child who had a disability, and I could not imagine my life without Amelia. He moved to a different state, and we were left to figure out a new life without any family and hardly any friends. I am sure you understand our struggles were infinitely more than anybody would be willing to undergo. I literally thought it was the end of me, but God has created us strong, very strong.
Amelia’ s path was paved with hardships, all kinds of them really, from being raised without a father to multiple medical and developmental difficulties. She was born with atrial septal defect, a heart condition. We were told it might improve on its own or it may need surgery. Every four months we had to visit Saint Francis Children’ s Hospital to see a cardiologist, and every time my heart would freeze with fear as I waited for the news. Will the hole in the wall that separates Amelia’ s heart chambers