Noel's Story: Home at Last

For those of you wondering, they're home? What about Kids Street, well it turns out that in theory Kid Street was going to be great, but in real life it was just too hard. We had to drive two hours a day, load up all of Noel's equipment every day, and wake up at 5 am and not get home until after 5 at night. It would have been wonderful to take her there if we lived closer, but with the housing market so horrible we realized that we wouldn't be able to move for a long time.
We decided that it would be best for our family if we moved back home for now until the housing market picks back up and we can move.

So we finally made it back home, it was only a nine month trip to Denver! It’s amazing how things have changed from then to now. I feel like I left home with a baby and came back with a toddler. We originally went to Denver for a fundraiser walk for the MDA; we never made it there because the first morning of our trip we were in the E.R. of Children’s. I still remember when the triage nurse went to take Noel from me to weigh her and I had to warn her let me do it because Noel was like a rag doll.

Then she was 14 months old and just barley 16 pounds, she couldn’t sit on her own, she couldn’t bare any weight on her legs, she couldn’t make noise, cry or even talk, we were working on two signs with her: More and all-done, neither of which she knew how to say, she was so complacent with life and now looking back she was barley able to interact with the world around her.

Now she is almost 23 months old, over 22 pounds, she sits all by herself and she even spins around in circles, she can standup all by herself for short intervals, she can talk around her trach, she knows more then 25 signs, and she is so interactive with the world around her.

When we first found out that Noel had MD, I came to terms with the fact that she may never walk and honestly from how weak her muscles were I never thought it would be possible. Now it’s not if she will walk it’s when. I know it was really hard on Noel and all of us when she got RSV but honestly it really was a blessing in disguise, it enabled her to be on a vent (something that her body could have probably used all of her life) which provides her body with the oxygen and ventilation needed to grow, develop and even heal her muscles. I can’t even imagine where Noel would be right now if she never got RSV, she would probably still be barely making it to survive. All I know is that God defiantly has a plan and a purpose in all the things in our lives!

Here are some pictures of Noel from our recent trip to the Zoo!