Jakie Apple - taken November 21, 2007I have known Katie Apple for almost two years now...we "met" on an online forum for mommies "Bouncing from month to month" while we were both trying to get pregnant...It so happened that we had a lot in common - we both live in NC, are 25 years old, and love large families (she's just gotten hers much faster! :-) We also both ended up with our BFP's (Big Fat Positive's) around the same time and were both due in March 2007. The seven of us 'Chicks' who finally stopped bouncing at this time had become so close that we decided to just continue the thread - and we're all still around today...plus a few new recruits! They are an amazing group of women, if I do say so myself!
From the very beginning, Katie has been an inspiration to me.. She's the mother of six children ages ranging from her March baby, Lila, who's 9 months to Taylor who is 12 years old. Two of her children, Adriana (10) and Jakie (8) were born with cerebral palsy...Jake, who is her youngest son, had multiple other disabilities as well...But looking into his smile the disabilities seem insignificant...Look at that smile!
When she met her husband, David, he was a young, divorced father to three very small children - two with special needs that his ex-wife couldn't or didn't want to deal with. Katie was his saving grace...she fell in love with this dedicated father and his three special babies and after their marriage and the adoption proceedings she legally became what she already truly was - their mother. A title that was expanded when, one by one, they welcomed three more little girls into the family.
What makes Katie so exemplary is that from day one she refused to accept the suggestions of Jake's doctors, specialists, and state care workers to put Jake into an institution. She believed in his potential...she believed in that smile! And so she became his biggest advocate - proving his right to an education and getting him into school. She learned how to handle every aspect of his care - which over the years had become more and more complex, but still she refused to listen to those who told her it was time to place him in an assisted living center.
It wasn't until this past year when Jake's medical conditions required 18+ hour monitoring that Katie conceded to place him in permanent resident care. And yet she was still with him close to every day...and you'd better believe that for the holidays she was there to help load her little man, wheel-chair, tubes, wires and all, into a van to get him home for at least the day. If he was unable to come, then the Apple clan came to him!
Sadly, after a year full of surgeries, progress, and setbacks, Jake's little body has reached its limit and his parents were forced to make the heart wrenching decision to discontinue the feedings that are no longer being absorbed by his failing intestines. He is now spending his final hours surrounded by his family...Their courage, strength, and faith are immeasurable.
I publish this post with the hope that all who read it will be touched, just as I have been, by Jake's example and childlike innocence.. He is truly beautiful and I know that our Heavenly Father is waiting to welcome him with open arms to a home where his body will be perfected and free from pain.
2 comments:
You write so beautiful! That is what I have been wanting to say for so long about Katie!
This is a beautiful story of unconditional love! What an amazing mother to fall in love with this dedicated father and darling family! To hold the family together and be their glue. She sounds like an amazing woman! What a hard decision to have to make. I could only imagine the smile on this darling boy's face as he is able to run for the first time!
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