All About Annie
There will be so much “about Annie” shared throughout the ALF medical specialty resources. She is a little girl with a big story, and I want to share the entirety of her health journey. It is that journey that led to the desire and evident need to create this foundation.What I want you to know about Annie as a person is what a needed asset she is to this world.
A simple google search could have never informed me of the fantastic personality and tough as nails warrior spirit she would have when we first heard the words, “Down Syndrome”.
When we learned about her congenital heart defect that would require surgery, we had no way of knowing then what beauty and power would come from that experience. Annie’s story is quite a paradox .
When we learned about her congenital heart defect that would require surgery, we had no way of knowing then what beauty and power would come from that experience. Annie’s story is quite a paradox . The hardest, most painful time of our lives is now one that we look back on see as the most meaningful. We marvel at the miracle upon miracle of her survival, the hearts she changed during that time and the beginning of her story being used for something bigger than herself. Annie was a very sick little girl, the sickest in her hospital at once point, and she has worked hard every day since to recover and reach milestones that did not come easy; all while keeping the most joyful spirit.
One consistent theme about the way Annie lives is she likes to prove people wrong- don’t worry, she is very polite about it! You say she will never eat by mouth? She will develop a refined pallet unlike any two-year-old you know. You say that cardiac arrest will give her a varying degree of brain damage to where she will never do this or that ability based skill? Clear scans followed by a love for singing and talking . You say to plan for her to be dependent of a pacemaker for life? Watch her become independent of it. Those limitations or expectations were placed because that is what science says or because of preconceived expectations, but it has become glaringly evident that Annie does not play by those “rules”.
I personally think she likes to show off how fearfully and wonderfully her Creator made her.
For almost 3 years now, I have shared our day to day on social media as we raise Annie because I want the world to see what it is really like to raise a child who was/is labeled “medically complex” to go along with her disability.
Those experiences have turned into major opportunities to help other mothers and babies who feel lost in the navigating. I don’t know that I will ever be able to quantify the positive impact on others that Annie’s hardships have resulted in- Help for mothers, improved health for babies, changed perspective for providers of all kinds, a new understanding for other families on the outside looking in.
Maybe one day I will find time to compile all the beyond moving messages I have received thanking Annie for her story and her life.
Annie is not the daughter I pictured having when I dreamed of motherhood, she is so much more than those visions could have fit.