Family Bonding

Wow! I got to watch a bit of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition last night. That show is probably one of the best shows ever made. They helped out the Akers, a family of five living in Michigan and built them a fantastic new house. Well, okay…all the houses they build are fantastic. LOL Anyway, this family is two parents and three children and all but the mom have some sort of illness. Can you imagine? I can’t at all. The dad and the son both have Crones disease, a gastrointestinal disease that can be horribly painful, and the two daughters both have SMA, spinal muscular atrophy, which disables them from ever walking. SMA is the number one genetic killer of children under the age of two and one in forty people carry the gene that causes it. All of the children are so incredibly bright and full of life despite whatever ails them. The parents are the same way and have done such a truly fantastic job is setting them on the right paths with true family values.

It is SO refreshing to see people come through life in the face of devastation and shine. Rarely do you see actual “families” anymore. People go through life blindly and you hardly ever see the true bonds of family shine out of them. When I was pregnant with No-No, my triple screen came back positive for possible Down’s syndrome. I had to have an amniocentesis and we met with a genetic counselor. One of the questions she asked was if the results came back positive, would keep the baby. Honestly, we couldn’t answer. I’d like to think that I am the type of person who has the strength to face something like that for my children but I really don’t know if I am. You really begin to question who and what you are when you’re faced with things like that. I know that if that had happened, I would definitely turn outwards for support and soak in the strength of others doing the same thing. Even without having the same circumstances, I already look at these families with hope that we are not becoming the nation that it appears to be now and there still are truly inspirational people out there.