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I am the mother of a four year old son, that could be Ashley. He will never walk, he will never talk, he will never hold a job, vote or go to college. My son is finally through most of the acute medical issues that kept him in the hospital for months. His size and caring for him are now the biggest issues facing my husband and me. He is three and a half feet tall and around 45 lbs. My husband does most of the lifting because I have thrown my back out 5 times. We are right on the verge of having to make major changes for him and his mobility. We love our son so much, but all of his doctors have told us that at some point he will simply be too big for us to care for at home. The thought of that breaks my heart. When I first read about this case (and that was the original AP story when the article was published), I broke out into tears. My first thought was "Oh, God, that is Auschwitz stuff they are doing to that poor girl". As the days have progressed though, I have debated this with myself incessantly. Could I do that to my son? What if it meant he could stay at home with us? I still don't have an answer, but I doubt we would do it. My son has enough surgeries and medical problems without layering any others on. At the end of the day, I love my son wtih all my heart. I will work my hardest to the best that we can for him and reluctantly let tomorrow take care of itself.
