We were very lucky when Elisabeth was young to find Mary Kay. She was a physical therapist married to a doctor. She had no need to work .Mary Kay had six or more children of her own and they adopted a baby with spina bifida. So she had plenty to do anyway.
But she worked at a special school for children with disabilities. It was Mary Kay who told us we need to get a stander. I wish I would have taken a picture of the the contraption. It had Elisabeth in a standing position. To start it was a few minutes then increased as weeks went by. One reason she needed the stander was she had club foot repair. She had not been allowed to put weight on her feet at all until she was 18 months old. Mary Kay was an angel. She loaned us the stander she used for her son. Then when Elisabeth was ready she loaned her a walker with a cute little basket. Mary Kay was all about helping the child progress. So around 2 1/2 Mary Kay taught her to walk with crutches. The doctors never told us any of these things were needed. They were ecstatic that she was walking. Because she was already walking they did hip surgery at age 3. She was in a hot pink body cast.(I'll scan and post a picture someday)What a summer that was, I could not lift my 25lb daughter in that heavy cast
What a blessing Mary Kay was in our lives. I consider her one of our many angels.
I am not sure you can tell but to keep her legs straight when she was young they put twister cables on her splints.
On a much more exciting note. A few years ago we were in Florida. There was a program where children with disabilities could feed the dolphins. If you could have seen the scary walk over several walkways you would know how truly brave Elisabeth is. If she slipped on the wet surface she could have fallen into a tank with biting turtles. I myself was terrified but endured so she could have the experience. This particular place only had animals that had been hurt and were helping them heal to be put back in the wild or if they no longer could function in the wild because of their injuries they cared for them. They no longer provide this service. It is too bad. For Elisabeth it was a highlight in her life.
7 comments:
wow! VERY PRECIOUS PICTURES!!!♥
Thanks for sharing! What great memories. I love seeing Elisabeth as a little girl. and look how far she's come.....now she is driving!! She is an inspiration!
I love your posts about Elisabeth. What a wonderful young woman. And it's so satisfying to see how much she has accomplished. And thank Heaven for the Mary Kays of this world.
That is so great Stephanie. I am glad she got to feed the dolphins too. That is so awesome.
Way to go Elisabeth.
What happy pictures. I love inspiring posts.
Hey, I tagged you on my blog. The rules said I had to leave you a comment to let you know. So here you go!
I love seeing all of these pictures. We had our own "Mary Kay" when Jake was little. Her name was Jane, and he called her Miss Jane. She was his first therapist and she began coming to our home to work with him when Jake was 6 weeks old.
She continued to come until he was 3, but couldn't come any more because he was too old for the Birth to 3 program. We still miss her. She had such a way of motivating him, and was always so positive. Every once in a while, Jake will still talk about Miss Jane.
Post a Comment