{"id":878,"date":"2015-02-12T05:14:43","date_gmt":"2015-02-12T05:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yourglamourconnection.com\/blog\/?p=878"},"modified":"2015-02-12T05:13:39","modified_gmt":"2015-02-12T05:13:39","slug":"belaying-stephen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/yourglamourconnection.com\/blog\/belaying-stephen\/","title":{"rendered":"Belaying Stephen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"author<\/a>Before my daughter, Katelynn Faith was born, we knew she had a rare chromosomal anomaly.\u00a0 We knew that Katelynn\u2019s differences had made her special and she would be given every opportunity to find her way in life.\u00a0 Katelynn is strong.\u00a0 During her time at the hospital, people could see how special she was.\u00a0 She was surrounded in a sterile, cold environment, and yet she locked eyes with those around her.\u00a0\u00a0 People could feel <\/em>her presence and attentiveness.<\/p>\n

Every morning before going to the NICU, I remember sitting on my bed, looking at my wheelchair.\u00a0 I would think about what I needed to accomplish.\u00a0 I knew the day demanded more than I had; getting out of bed and getting ready was already so draining.\u00a0 So, God and I had a conversation.\u00a0 I told God how much I felt I could do of my day\u2014usually less than 10%\u2014 and asked him to take care of the rest.\u00a0 I knew he had to carry me, because I had to be awesome, I had to be beyond my best for my three children depending on me.\u00a0 They looked to my attitude to see if they could get through this.\u00a0 I would not let them down because I was their mom.<\/p>\n

I have been blessed in my life with having a close relationship to God.\u00a0 I know he has carried me and comforted me in some of the hardest times of my life.\u00a0 My relative, Stephen, is going through the similar need to ask God to carry him when he can do no more.\u00a0 Stephen has a Chiari Malformation Decompression, which is a rare brain disorder.\u00a0 Last year, a surgeon tried to fix the problem, and was unable to help.\u00a0 Stephen\u2019s condition has been worsening, with Parkinson shakes, Grand Mal seizures, and periods where he doesn\u2019t know who he is or where\"kissy he is. \u00a0He has liquid pressing against his brain, which is an additional problem that is causing a lot of complications.\u00a0 Stephen has been unable to work for more than a year because of his condition.\u00a0 In November, he was told his brain was starting to necrotize (die) and that he didn\u2019t have much longer to live.\u00a0 When my niece, Sheraya found out what was going on with her cousin, she stepped in with fundraising to help pay for some of the medical costs.\u00a0 As Stephen\u2019s story spread, a specialist on Stephen\u2019s condition from New York got involved.\u00a0 In January, Stephen went to New York to see Dr. Bolognese and found out his condition was NOT fatal, and is operable.<\/p>\n

My niece, Sheraya, has spoken to me about how it\u2019s hard to see Stephen suffering.\u00a0 He\u2019s in his early 30\u2019s\u2014and when he was younger, made decisions that led him down a scary path.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to see him change his life so drastically, and to have made his peace with God, only to have him now suffering daily from this illness.\"Stephen<\/p>\n

Now we have hope, we have a goal\u2014to raise the money for Stephen to get back to New York and get the surgery he needs to save his life.\u00a0 Stephen, and his wife, Lesley, are\u00a0so upbeat and positive.\u00a0 Throughout the whole experience, Lesley has been looking forward, and has not lost faith that Stephen can get the help he needs.\u00a0 Stephen is taking life by the horns, and fighting a battle that is overwhelming.\u00a0 If you are interested in learning more about Stephen\u2019s story or helping him get to New York, you can go to his website, BelayingStephen.com<\/a> or his fundraising site, gofundme.com\/belayingstephen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m grateful for all I have in my life, and the fact that we were able to care for Nathan through the bus accident and heart attack, and then Katelynn through her time here.\u00a0 As much as we try to look on the bright side, the bitter truth is, crummy things happen in life.\u00a0 But, we can choose to come out of those experiences stronger, surer of ourselves, and more determined to love and cherish the people we have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before my daughter, Katelynn Faith was born, we knew she had a rare chromosomal anomaly.\u00a0 We knew that Katelynn\u2019s differences had made her special and she would be given every opportunity to find her way in life.\u00a0 Katelynn is strong.\u00a0 During her time at the hospital, people could see how special she was.\u00a0 She was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,272,14,7],"tags":[223,208,237,133,220,288,72,224,227],"class_list":["post-878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author","category-how-to-embrace-your-inner-hotness-2","category-life","category-philosphy","tag-author-2","tag-greene","tag-how-to-embrace-your-inner-hotness","tag-leta-greene","tag-leta-maughan","tag-life","tag-love","tag-mom","tag-mother"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/yourglamourconnection.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/yourglamourconnection.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/yourglamourconnection.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yourglamourconnection.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yourglamourconnection.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/yourglamourconnection.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":884,"href":"http:\/\/yourglamourconnection.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878\/revisions\/884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/yourglamourconnection.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yourglamourconnection.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yourglamourconnection.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}