VIDBE-Q Volume 68 Issue 4
18
from our home. Liam spent 3 months in hospitals where he fought for his life.
There were times when we did not know if he would make it through the night. To
make a long story short, it was traumatic. Due to the complications resulting from
his fight with meningitis, there was swelling in Liam's brain that caused brain
injury. The doctors told us he would not breathe on his own, eat on his own, he
would not be able to process language, he would not be able to walk, he would be
deaf and blind. Despite all that was against him, he survived and was able to do all
those things we were told he would not be able to do. Little Liam was our miracle
boy. He did however, become deaf and blind (DeafBlind). Once we were finally
able to bring Liam home, Finn was born a month later. I now had a newly
DeafBlind toddler and a newborn. My world was shaken. My hopes for Liam's
future were shattered. My sense of "normal" was gone and I was overwhelmed.
Before Liam became DeafBlind he loved to read books. His box of books
was one of his favorite things. I clearly remember one day, after we brought him
home from the hospital, now DeafBlind, he found his beloved box of books. He
dug through his box, no longer being able to see the pages and the pictures. No
longer able to hear mom read the stories. He felt the pages and there was nothing
on them. He grabbed his box of books, and he threw them. The books he once had
loved, were now meaningless to him. I was heartbroken. It was from that moment
on I was determined to give him opportunities to love books again. I did not know
