My Little Bro

This weekend I was able to go home to Nevada for one of my best friends weddings. It was great to be back and see my family, even if it was a really quick trip and I didn't get to see them a ton. I promise there is a media aspect to this but first I need to give a little background. My brother Taylor is 17 years old and has down syndrome. Right before my wedding in December 2008 he started having a lot of health problems, including being diagnosed with Graves Disease and Celiac disease. In March he had to undergo Radioactive Iodine Therapy because his body was not responding well to Medicine. As you can imagine having a radioactive isotope in your body can make you pretty sick. He was finally feeling a little better and headed into the doctors for his yearly check up with his cardiologist when they found two clots in his heart. They immediately hospitalized him and that night he had a stroke. It was a blessing that he had that doctors appointment and that he was with people who could help him when it happened. After months of rehabilitation he is finally home and doing pretty great.

So this past weekend was the first time I had seen him since the week before the stroke when I happened to be down there for spring break. I saw him and thought everything was completely normal. He looked just the same as the last time I had seen him. Then that night we played Rock Band. Taylor was on the guitar at first. I was trying hard not to die at drums so I didn't really pay attention but sort of noticed Tay was only holding playing the guitar with one hand. He's always been a performer so I thought that was him trying to put on a show and dance. Then we switched and he went to drums. My dad said Tay needs encouragement to use his left arm so I told him to play with both hands, not really thinking about it. Part way through the song I noticed one stick was on the ground. We stopped the song and I told Tay to pick it up because he needed to play with both hands. What I saw made me want to cry. Tay tried to pick up the other stick but it took him almost a fill minute. We started again and after two slows hits with his left drumstick it fell to the ground. He couldn't hold it. His hand doesn't really work. It about broke my heart. My little brother, the sweetest kid in the world, wasn't back to normal like I thought. It was a reminder to me that the stroke was real and how lucky I was that He was still with us. I know this sounds weird but Rock band really made me stop and evaluate how blessed I have been to be surrounded by such amazing people in my life. Below is a picture of Taylor between a friend and my husband Karl (Karl's the tall, dark, and handsome one). So, when you can, take a moment to thank Heavenly Father for all the people and blessings you have in your life; and like my dad always says "Stop and smell the roses"