Blessings in Our Lives
My partner, Katy, and I adopted Felix in August 2000. He was 7 months old, weighed seven pounds and couldn't even hold up his head. He was classified as "terminally ill, non-adoptable". Obviously, neither was true.
Felix was born to a poly-substance abusing mother. He has prune belly syndrome, cerebral palsy and was in renal failure from birth. He had seven surgeries before he was two and was on peritoneal dialysis for nine months, until his kidney transplant in 2001. I was blessed to be his donor and now he is doing incredibly well. He has some physical limitations and severe learning disabilities, but he is an active, funny wonderful little boy and my perpetual motion machine.
We adopted Josiah in 2002, a few months before his fifth birthday. Josiah was also classified as terminally ill and not adoptable. He has severe pulmonary hypertension, complex congenital heart defects, marked global delays and had severe congenital scoliosis. We were told that he would probably not live a year without a heart-lung transplant and that, if he were not adopted, he would not qualify for transplant.
Once we brought him home, we were blessed to hook up with the Pulmonary Hypertension Center at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital. He was put on the right medication he no longer required a transplant! Josiah had scoliosis surgery in August 2007. After a very rocky six week hospital stay he came home two inches taller and with a beautiful straight back. Josiah is on oxygen 24/7, is in a severely handicapped class because of his cognitive delays and his health issues, but he too is thriving.
Both of these boys are blessings in our lives. We are honored to be their parents. They are the two bravest individuals that I have ever met. I pray that they may both continue to thrive and to become the wonderful men that I know that they can be.
Janet Windz
Nov. 17, 2007