As some of you who have followed my page over the last several years know, I am just a mother behind a computer, speaking out to make a difference.
I use my online platform to speak out about the change, pay it forward in some way to honor my children's lives, and advocate for better not just for the animals I have stepped up to help but also for my kids.
I am a passionate mom of special needs children, and my son opened my eyes 9 years ago when he came into this world.
I knew little about special needs life; I was tucked away in my happy bubble.
I was the one who tried not to "stare," the one who didn't know how to speak to a child who was non-verbal or could not share emotions.
I was that person.
I didn't know the restraints of confinement of being a special needs parent, not being able to go out whenever we wanted spontaneously. To not have activities my child could enjoy due to being in a wheelchair.
To lose the gift of hiking trails and the freedom to go and do any activity without the worry of it being ADA-compliant for my son in a wheelchair.
Little did I know the lack of special needs foster parents, the ones in hospitals waiting for homes to fight for them, advocate for them, and love them during their battle.
I had no idea how to care for a trach vent-dependent child or a terminal child.
How terrifying that would have been for me 15 years ago, even nine years ago, and it was six years ago that I said yes to becoming my son, Amir's mom.
I think my caseworker had to constantly encourage me and the staff at Children's Hospital that I could do it and that I was doing a good job. Watching your child turn blue while you desperately grapple with the training you were taught to save his life every single day was extremely daunting.
Just one mucus plug and you would hear the alarms go off, and your child would lose the ability to breathe. It is terrifying.
But I did it...I pushed past my fear, leaned heavily on support around me and encouragement from my CPA, and now my son is a happy, healthy, soon-to-be 7-year-old little boy, all medical devices GONE.
Because of my son, Jojo, I was able to SEE the world from a different view, SEE how amazing these kids are, and become a mother of several with incredible ABILITIES, not disabilities.
I saw them for who they were, looked a child in the face, and saw them as a child, talking to them as a child, no longer trying not to look, but looking straight at them and treating them like any other person.
I learned to communicate with them like they deserved, and then, as time passed, I advocated for the world to see how amazing they were.
Yes, they deserve recognition and remarkable things just for them.
These kids and these families fight every single day to survive, medical appointment after medical appointment, lab after lab, needle after needle, hospital admission after hospital admission..and the kids still smile. The parents keep getting up every single day advocating for their child no matter if they slept the night before due to their child's needs.
Many times, people say how amazing my husband and I are for doing what we do, saying yes to complex children, taking in children on ventilators, or many medical complications, but we are not.
It's the children who are truly remarkable, the resilience they demonstrate
daily...the battles they bravely face.
They are the amazing ones.
It's why we created Cassies Care Farm. It's why we host events for them each year.
From foster care to special needs, these children fight so many battles you couldn't even begin to imagine.
The things they have endured and seen...but that is yet another post.
Today, I write to introduce myself and the beginning of my journey to share with you weekly my life as a medical mom, foster mom, adoptive mom, and nonprofit sanctuary/care farm for kids.
By sharing my journey, I hope others will see the world through a new lens and realize the need for change.
It takes a village to make a difference, and each one of us has the power to change another person's life. Let's all be that change.
Thank you for being part of this journey. Together, we can all be that change.
All purchases from our website help support what we do here on the farm, from our children to the sanctuary to Cassie's Care Farm.
All donations are tax-deductible as Mad Hatter Farm is a 509A public nonprofit. EIN 88-1376545
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