speechless

Just moments ago I was doing my daily ritual of reading posts on Baby Center and I again came across the very thread that just still makes me cry. It's a memorial to all these families who have lost children due to anything under the sun. It just makes me cry and ache for these families who had someone so innocent taken from them.

Just the other day I read a post about a little boy name Sawyer who, like Brayden, was born in June. He was just like any other baby with the exception that he suffered from Spinal Muscular Strophy. Here's a brief description of SMA and how it effects the body:


Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a motor neuron disease. The motor neurons affect the voluntary muscles that are used for activities such as crawling, walking, head and neck control, and swallowing. It is a relatively common "rare disorder": approximately 1 in 6000 babies born are affected, and about 1 in 40 people are genetic carriers.

SMA affects muscles throughout the body, although the proximal muscles (those closest to the trunk of one’s body - i.e. shoulders, hips, and back) are often most severely affected. Weakness in the legs is generally greater than in the arms. Sometimes feeding and swallowing can be affected. Involvement of respiratory muscles (muscles involved in breathing and coughing) can lead to an increased tendency for pneumonia and other lung problems. Sensation and the ability to feel are not affected. Intellectual activity is normal and it is often observed that patients with SMA are unusually bright and sociable. Patients are generally grouped into one of four categories, based on certain key motor function milestones.



When he was diagnosed, he was given 10 months...that was only a few months, if not two months, ago.

I honestly don't know what I would do if I was to lose Brayden. I can't imagine what his family, or any of these families are going through. That's why I never, ever take advantage of the fact that although I'm only 21 I have a beautiful baby boy who is healthy.

I might not want to get up out of the warm covers to feed him when he wakes up, but to be able to run my hands over his smooth, innocent skin and just stare at him makes it all worth wild. Just one gaze into those big, blue eyes makes the day that much better.

Please pray for Sawyer's family and for everyone who has lost a child or is in the sometimes long process of trying to have that one child.


Sawyer Eberhardt
Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy