As the parent of a girl with Autism, what I feel I need the most is friendship from other parents. Feeling loved and cared for from others. Where I don't have to be the one reaching out for social dates all the time, but receiving the genuine care of others.
I’m a single mom of four children. My oldest son was born completely healthy. At the age of 3 1/2 he was diagnosed with a very rare cancerous brain tumor. I was very young and going through a divorce with his Dad at that time. My son was treated at St Jude childrens hospital at the time. He went through very high doses of brain radiation, chemo, stem cell therapy because of the seriousness and size of the tumor. I just wanted them to save his life and didn’t give a lot of thought to the possible after effects of all of the treatments. Nine months later he was cancer free and we left the hospital to go back living life, he was four years old. A year later he started Kindergarten and they started seeing he wasn’t keeping up with his class, grasping the same things and milestones as the year went on. At Jude did tell me that he may have some slight learning delays to which I shared with his school. They ended up doing some testing and he was placed in the special education class. It hurt my heart to hear this but I still figured he would progress just a bit slower. As years went on I saw he was just not developing like his peers. Come to find out the high doses of brain radiation he had received although it killed the cancer cells and shrunk the tumor. It killed healthy brain cells. He was diagnosed as develop mentally delayed. He developed seizures, growth hormone issues, endocrine etc as years went by. He didn’t grow past the age of about 12. So now he is 26 years old and looks about 12 with the development of maybe a 7 year old. It’s been beyond challenging BUT he has shown me what it means to smile even though he has been through SO much he is always happy, he touches everyone he meets and always tells people Jesus saved him. He knows that God played a part in his healing. There are days I want to run away and just throw in the towel because it’s hard raising a special needs child into adulthood but the fact they never grow up. Your responsibility to them is life long. That can be alot to handle sometimes. Especially when your alone and don’t have any help. Some days he drives me up the wall because he constantly calls my name lol ‘Mom, Mom, Mom! Lol im like oh man just give Mom a second of peace. And I feel guilty thinking that but im human, im burnt out at times and can barely gather my thoughts some days lol but when I hear parents say they wish they could hear their child speak I quickly remind myself it could always be different and to remember what a gift Isaiah is, even through the hard times he brings joy to our family and im so thankful to hear this video and know we’re not alone. Self care is so important and to find time to take care of ourselves so we can take care of our children is so helpful! God bless all of you
I can’t formulate what all this meant to me. But I can so relate to this man’s email and everything y’all said. I would love more episodes in this subject. It’s such a hard place to be in.
This was beautiful. I went to Confession last month and the priest who heard my Confession was a father himself (probably a widower with an adult child). He told me off the bat that having special needs children is tough and that people don't always understand, but to be patient with them and myself. He gave me a card with Psalm 69 to read and to remember that things don't have to be perfect. His last advice was to tell my wife I love her. I do indeed.
Wow just wow! Thank you for your real life feelings, words, experiences. So very encouraging. There’s so much guilt us parents carry. Be kind to ourselves is so relieving to hear and to be given permission!
So important to have humor in a marriage. Especially in a marriage where you have special needs children. My husband brings the humor to our relationship while I’m the nerdy scientist in the relationship. LOL 😂
Thank you so much to you both for your sharing and encouragement, I feel encouraged to know that we’re not alone, but at the same time I really wished that Autism hasn’t affected so many families across the world as it already has. But we live in a fallen world and our only hope is in Jesus, who’s grace is sufficient for us. Thank you for taking the time to do this talk and we continue to pray for miraculous healings on all those people and their families being effected by this devastating disorder.
Thank you for this video! My husband and I have felt like we were alone in this. Christian cliches, not having specialists/health care professionals etc listen to your concerns, self- pressure and the list goes on and can be so hard at times. Again thank you for sharing your experiences!
Thank you. This is good. Our sweet 2 1/2 granddaughter was diagnosed 3 months ago. ♥️ We love her so much and our son and dil are amazing parents. My husband and I want to do all we can do to help them walk through this is and give our granddaughter every benefit and help possible. Whenever she repeats her first word ‘Hi’ it brings us so much joy. Like you said it’s like water to our souls!
Thank you very much for the completely honest, and very detailed video you have shared with the rest of the Christian community. I was looking for a good interview or video that I could use for my Childhood Development benchmark essay and have chosen to use your useful and informative content to use as a point of reference. God bless you and your family/as well as everyone who sees and also watches this video. 🙏🏻
I believe that God does not give us what we can handle. God allows things to happen so that we rely on God and not on ourselves. We are all called to no matter what we face in life to turn to him and rely on God. This is an almost impossible thing for humans to understand, but our lives are to bring God glory not ourselves glory. Does it hurt? Absolutely! Is it soul crushing at times? Absolutely! But there are so many stories in the Bible where God took brokenness and used it for his glory. I have a daughter with disability and I have told many people (actually mostly Christians) that we (my husband and I) are very ordinary people with an extraordinary God. That is the only way we can love and care for our daughter the ways we have. We don’t think we are special parents at all, we serve an extraordinary God. He gets the glory, not us. Thank you for sharing your story. God is not surprised by disability and I think we need a lot more compassion, understanding, and inclusion of those with disabilities. We are all in God’s family and we all have worth and dignity.
I love that you mention God doesnt give us autism/special needs etc...it INFURIATES me when ppl try to spin this devastating disorder in a 'positive' way...ie. when ppl try to play it off as a gift! NO WAY! What we've experienced has been a nightmare! I hope above all things my children were able to connect with loved ones and form relationships and learn/comprehend and flourish the way those without these issues can!!!
