Dear Doug-
Thanks for the link to the CNN report about the brother who found his handicapped sister after many years. I, too, have a handicapped brother, born in 1970 with Down’s Syndrome. I was just a 6-year-old little girl at the time of his birth, but I remember my mother’s profound sadness and tears when my brother was diagnosed. The doctors involved in my bother’s care at that time urged my parents to put him in a home or institution because they said that having him in our home would “ruin” my brothers and me. But despite my mother’s overwhelming grief at the time, she adamantly refused to do so. And as a result of her fierce love for him, my bother has had one of the most interesting and exciting lives of anyone I know. My parents went out of their way to make sure that he was treated just like the rest of us, and that included him being disciplined and trained to be a polite young man, as well as having every opportunity in the world that my parents could find for him. He has participated in Special Olympics for many years, works at Pizza Hut, and has traveled the world (literally!) with special opportunities that have come his way.
But probably one of the most important aspects of his life has been the way he has blessed my brothers and me beyond what we could have ever hoped, and profoundly shaped who we became as adults. Not only did he not “ruin” us, he made us tenderhearted, kind, and patient towards those in life who don’t fit our society’s mold of “perfection”. He has taught us to be patient in affliction, and to enjoy every single opportunity and achievement that God gives us in our lives.
Please continue to encourage families to care for and love those whom God has placed in their lives that need special care and help. I know from experience that it can be exhausting and sometimes discouraging too, but ultimately, the blessings to those involved are some of the sweetest in life.
With thanks to you and your ministry-Mrs. Susan C.