Another year

My daughter April turns 13 today. A lot of the members of PNW got to know her last year when she went through a rough hospitalization, and kind of adopted her. I have to say that the strength my family has drawn from this extended family has been amazing.

I never dreamed 13 years ago when Karen and I decided to have a child that our lives would be turned upside down like it was. Karen had a fairly normal pregnancy (other than her water breaking at Dirty Dave's Pizza). 18 hours later April was born not breathing. We had no indication previous to this that April would have any problems. She spent her first few days in the special care nursery. The doctor noticed some things had some genetic tests done. We found out then that she had a chromosome translocation, but because it is so rare we didn't know the prognosis. The next day she suffered heart failure and was transported to Tacoma Mary Bridge hospital. A week later she had a shunt put in her brain because the spinal fluid won't drain normally. At 8 months she had open heart surgery to repair a hole in her heart.

Over the last 13 years she has been though more hospital visits, surgeries, pokes, prods, implants and experiments. Through it all she has been an inspiration to many. She has shown that no matter your size, your spirit is what gets you through.

We don't know what the future holds for April. We don't know how long we will have April. We have friends who have lost their special needs children over the last year. One due to a failure of his shunt. The same thing April has. We just keep going and know that God has a plan for her.

April wouldn't be here if it weren't for Karen. She has been April's mom, nurse, care giver, and advocate for all these years. Always putting April before herself. Always being the strong one in our marriage. The realistic one. The one to take this head on. She is one hell of a woman.

So I write this to say happy birthday April Noel. Daddy loves you.