Our Black Belt project
is to support and bring awareness about those who are born differently, looks different, and maybe acts different than us
because we are all “special” in God’s eyes and are beautiful inside. Our little brother, Esaia, was born
with a condition called hydrocephalus and holoproscencephaly-pretty big words, huh? All that means is, he was born with a
lot of fluid in his head that didn’t drain properly and the left and right side of his brain didn’t separate like
it should so the two sides don’t communicate to each other like it should. Soon after he was born, he had surgery to
put a shunt in his head to drain the fluid to his stomach, but he had an infection a couple of weeks after his surgery and
we had to rush him to Duke Hospital. I was so sad because he stayed in the hospital for three weeks with more surgeries!
Esaia seems to do okay with things for awhile even though
he was a little slower at moving or talking, but then he started to have his seizures and had to take a medicine that tasted
yucky because he was getting moody. Then he had to go see a neurologist, a brain doctor, who gave him a different medicine.
He seems to do really good with this medicine; it didn’t make him sleepy or moody. When we go out in public, we have
to be very careful he doesn’t catch anything or come close to someone who is sick because, he gets a fever really quickly!
We have to always be prepared because when he has a high fever, he gets really bad seizures! That’s when we have to
go to the neighbor’s or friend’s house or sometimes to the hospital with our parents.
Our little brother is doing okay now; he has a lot of therapy
but no bad seizures for now. He is such a sweet, cuddly and happy little boy. We dream that one day, he will crawl, walk,
talk, read, write, draw, and play outside with us. But until then we’ll always be there to read to him and hold him.
Our parents go to events that Special Blessings put together,
like horseback riding, Christmas Parties, and the Nutcracker. We love horseback riding the most! It’s good for my family
to stay in touch with families who go through the same things that we do. The people there are very nice.
Tae Kwon Do has taught us not just about focus, obedience,
and confidence but also about respect; respect for others in the community no matter how different someone may be.
Vienna and KC
Testing for 1st Degree BlackBelt
