Forty-eight years ago my life was made complete by a little visitor who came to call at 9:15pm on a Saturday night. I lay in a top floor of St. Mary’s Hospital in Kansas City watching the traffic flow into the city for dinner and entertainment. My entertainment was trying to give birth to one of God’s funniest kids. I should have known he was going to grow up to run, although like many things in John’s life….it didn’t come easy.

He was born with a club foot. When he lay in the bassinette both little feet pointed the same way. Not good. When a baby is on it’s tummy, both feet should point outwards. I went through the phase of everyone telling me I was imagining things….he was fine. I wasn’t convinced. Then I began to worry about something else….when I held him to nurse, his little eyes jiggled back and forth and constantly roamed as if trying to focus. His eyes looked cloudy to me.

Since he was my third child I was not easily disturbed over possible irregularities. I just knew something was wrong. Dr. Needles, who delivered John, made an appointment with Dr. Drisko who was an Orthopedic surgeon. Our first visit, he affirmed my concerns and a cast was put on from the hip to the foot…..he went on to have more casts, braces, orthopedic shoes and finally at about the age of eight was graduated into regular shoes.

Dr. Needles also got an appointment with Dr. Eubanks, an Ophthalmologist who rendered the information that John was born with congenital cataracts. The prognosis didn’t look that great but we started a long journey to make the best things happen for John that we could.

From a parent’s standpoint, John developed into a strong personality and didn’t make himself out to be a victim. He worked very hard just to be a normal kid, but the truth is……he overshot that goal and never looked back. As his mother, I just hung on and enjoyed the view! Happy Birthday John!!!!

Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther