When I was pregnant with Ethan, I was told I was having a healthy baby. This was my third pregnancy and everything was going well. With a due date of January 2nd, we thought he might be a New Year’s baby, but at 5pm on Christmas Day 2008, Ethan, my Christmas baby, was born.
I went over his sweet face and admired his birth mark on his chest. I was in love. It was not until the next morning when a nurse came in and shared news we were never expecting.
“There is something I need to show you,” she said. She turned Ethan over and showed me the grapefruit sized Lipoma on his back. My entire world crashed when I heard the words “He has a rare form of Spina Bifida and will have a lifetime of care and doctors”.
I lifted my son as they explained Snowflake Disability and thought, “Wow and he chose to come on Christmas Day.”
This Christmas will be 15 years of heartache and joy. He’s a gift sent to us for a reason.
Ethan was born to show the world the true meaning of a ‘Snowflake’. That we’re all different in our own special way. He never complains and his pain tolerance so high. He is fearless when he says, “Mom if my pain comes back, I’ll let them operate on my spine again”. Ethan has opened my eyes and my soul wide. There is no one like him in the entire world. That in itself is pretty amazing! Ethan inspires many and we know too well that these children are capable of things no one can predict.
Since Ethan’s birth we have traveled to BC Children’s Hospital more times than I can count. Our first trip was at four months for his first spine repair and surgery. It was a stay that lasted nine days and wouldn’t have happened without Easter Seals House.
With a child in the hospital, and us hours away from our home in Campbell River, Easter Seals House was the home-away-from-home we needed. It’s a place that is blocks away from the hospital, warm and inviting, provides us with our own suite and the piece of mind knowing it’s affordable.
More than thirty stays later, we have just returned from another trip to Vancouver. Each trip we make to Easter Seals House the staff makes us feel loved and cared for. Here we’re able to take care of Ethan and not worry about the struggles and stress of living away from home.
We are forever grateful to everyone who makes our stay at Easter Seals House possible and who give us a place to call our second home.
