20/20 hindsight about our child with special needs was a long time coming.

When our son was born in 1982, the doctor said he had a tracheoesophageal fistula TEF, now known as esophageal atresia (EA) or EA/TEF.

We were young.
We were first time parents.
We were expecting a healthy baby.
We were blinded by fear after our newborn’s life-threatening diagnosis.

In those early days, we couldn’t imagine having 20/20 hindsight about our child with special needs. 10 years later, we had an inkling that hindsight might develop. 20 years after that, we sensed it was developing. Even so, we were surprised that it took until 2020 for our 20/20 hindsight to come into sharp focus.

It was worth the wait.

Nearly 38 years after the birth of our beautiful baby boy, hindsight reveals how his special needs diagnosis transformed us from a young, scared, and unsure couple into braver, confident parents. Here are 5 of the many means God used to complete the transition.

#1: Bad Things

The day our child was born, we discovered that bad things do happen. In the years to follow, we discovered that we and our child could survive and thrive despite

multiple surgeries, procedures, and tests for our son,
years of sleep deprivation for us,
mental health issues for all,
and huge medical bills.

Despite all that and more, we are still here. And we are thriving.

#2: Surgeons

In the years after our son’s birth, we learned that surgeons are a blessing from God, and surgeons who saw our son as a person and not a condition were a double blessing.

To read the rest of this post, visit Key Ministry’s blog for parents raising kids with special needs.

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