SUPER examples rise above

Our middle child, Jamie, is living proof maintaining a positive perspective is half the battle.

Dec. 27, 1995. The day time stood still. The day our plans took a backseat. The day our hopes and dreams for our second born began to be rewritten. The day our lives changed forever.

“You have a beautiful baby boy, with lovely red hair. We have a strong suspicion he has Down syndrome.”

The news, delivered within minutes of Bridgid’s C-section, paralyzed both of us. We’d been married just four years and made many plans for our life together. This was not one of them.

“Do you still want to name him after your dad?” Bridgid asked.

Dad was valedictorian of Jesuit-run St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, N.J., and graduated with high honors from Georgetown University School of Medicine.

We didn’t know much about this baby who had just turned our world upside down, but we did know he probably wasn’t going to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps.

“Yes,” I said, trying my best to be strong and act as if everything would be OK — but with teary eyes, an aching heart and a spinning head. “We’ll name him James Martin Whitford and call him Jamie.”

“What are we going to do?” Bridgid cried from the core of her soul.

“We’ll love him just like we would any other child,” I replied, needing to hear those words as much as Bridgid did.

Flash forward 17 years …

We couldn’t love Jamie more — just the way he is!

Sure, Jamie battles a brigade of medical challenges, but Down’s isn’t one of them. It’s The Gift of a lifetime to all of us.

Want to stay forever young, never forgetting to live, laugh and love large? Follow in Jamie’s footsteps.

Jamie’s also a SUPER example of rising above.

Nothing keeps our superhero down:

Not biweekly shots or daily steroid pills he needs to combat Crohn’s disease. Not Crohn’s-related scoping and surgery. Not shots he needs monthly because he doesn’t produce testosterone. Not blood draws he needs regularly, partly to check on a thyroid gland that swings from hypo to hyper. Not sleep apnea. Not seven ear-tube surgeries. Not even his recent marathon tympanoplasty — a seven-hour surgery to repair his multiple eardrum perforations using cartilage grafted from behind his ears.

Time to join Jamie: It’s time to suit up and avenge today’s challenges at work and home — with a smile! And let’s not forget: This feat is much easier to accomplish if we assemble a team of avengers and lift each other up.

Contact Whitford at mwhitford@northcoastmedia.net or 216-706-3766.