A big birthday for a special boy

Today is the Mighty Mo’s second birthday and it is a miracle that he has made it. He was born with asthma, allergies and a low immune system. Just moments after his birth, he wheezed before he cried. All those complications have caused him much suffering. In his short life he has been through more medical testing, operations and procedures than almost every adult I know. There have been many days that I was not sure if he would be around to see his this day.

Doctors and nurses are amazed at how positive and happy he is while enduring such painful things. Medical personnel who have not met him wonder why we say the symptoms we do when visually he looks just fine, however after just a basic cursory exam they wonder how he can even stand, let alone smile and laugh and flirt.

Now he has a battery of doctors and nurses who know his issues well and have really gone extra steps to bring his little life along. He can now do most everything any other child can except one; he can’t spend time in groups of kids because his immune system will fail from a common cold or runny nose. Without fail at least once per month he develops a virus from church daycare and that’s pretty much the only unknown group he is with during the week.

He loves being around other kids and other kids love him, people stop us and remark about how well behaved and beautiful he is when we go out, but he spends much of the week alone at his grandparents. On Fridays he goes to a ‘safe house’ where a friend watches a few children that are all sympathetic to his condition and he can play without much cause for concern.

He is my reason for living. He is the bravest little boy I know. He has shown me more about acceptance and courage and forgiveness and more about having a good attitude in crappy situations than I have ever learned on my own. Maybe the worst is over, maybe not, doctors are not sure, he is still a little guy and his body has much growing and maturing to do. My little buddy-wuddy has been an inspiration to lots of people but none more so than to his proud parents on a day we sometimes feared would be celebrated in a much more somber way.