No Pity, Please

From Without a Crystal Ball:

Listen, I’m ok with people that want to pray for us, ask questions about our journey, but I’m not ok with people feeling sorry for us. I have never, ever felt sorry for my son. There are days I am frustrated that he has to go through so much difficulty in his development. Other days I may feel emotional about the diseases that are ravaging his body, but I never actually feel sorry for him or pity him. In the past five years, this child has taught me more about human resilience and love than anyone has in my entire life. I watched him sit on life support clinging to life, and I watched him beat the odds and survive a critical illness. As he grew, we were told all about the limitations he would experience by all the professionals. Doctors said he would likely have significant learning disabilities, developmental delays, and they weren’t confident he would ever talk. In the early days, professionals classified him as cognitively delayed, and therapists weren’t sure he understood anything said to him. None of those things were ever easy for me to hear, but none of that ever stopped me from pushing him to learn and succeed. (Read more.)