Through A Mother’s Eyes |
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In 1984, our beautiful daughter Nikki was born. Like any typical parent, we had many hopes and dreams for her. When she turned six months old she had her first seizure. From there we struggled with many intensive care hospitalizations and medical appointments.
We found ourselves comparing Nikki to other children her same age. The developmental milestones were becoming further and further apart from other children. At the age of three, Nikki was diagnosed with autism.
The pain a family endures is indescribable unless you experience a “diagnosis” yourself. Sometimes it feels like a death. You go through all the emotions (shock, anger, denial, acceptance)… but finally, when you have accepted the diagnosis, only then can you reach out and find support from family, friends and organizations that want to help.
When Nikki was approximately 12 years old her special education teacher told us about “Hiawatha Homes” and what the organization has to offer. So often we heard ourselves say, We don’t need that service. We’ll be ok. We can do this. This type of service is for other families that really need it. Boy, were we wrong.
With the love and encouragement from Nikki’s special education teacher we finally contacted Hiawatha Homes for Nikki to participate in the LEEP - Life Enrichment and Exploration Program - which is an after school program that enables people with disabilities to socialize and be with peers.
It came at a very important time in Nikki’s (and our) life because all other children her age were growing more independent and doing more and more social/fun things that teenagers should be doing. Once again I was going through sadness thinking that our daughter would be missing out on yet another milestone of development.
As we met with the wonderful staff at Hiawatha Home we knew this would meet Nikki’s needs and give us some “respite” time. Don’t get me wrong, we love our daughter so very, very much and would do whatever it took to give her the quality of life she so deserved. We finally realized that we as a family needed to take care of ourselves too, so that we can continue to take good care of Nikki. Our son reminded us so many times that “Nikki doesn’t want to be with the family all the time. She needs to explore other possibilities and be with friends…”
To other parents…we encourage you not to go at it alone. Lean on your family, friends and the community resources that are available to you. We are so fortunate to have chosen Hiawatha Homes to be a part of our family and to be on our team as we continue not to only improve Nikki’s quality of life, but to improve the quality of life that all our special people with disabilities so deserve.
