Hero of the Heart

Why?

As the parent of a child with special needs the question  WHY seems to come up a lot. On really difficult days, the word WHY pervades my prayers and my pleas to God  as I watch my son struggle to find a place in a world that constantly confuses and frustrates him.  Though I am exhausted after a day that has been filled with many challenges and the resulting bad behavior... the word WHY, always written in “shouty” capitals, blinks like a neon sign on the inside of my eyelids as I try futilely to sleep at night.

WHY SCOTTY?

I try to focus on these words.

 It was so that the works of 

God might be made visible through him.  John 9:3

 

I have to believe there is a purpose…I have to believe God has a plan.  I have to...

 

In taking this journey with Scotty we are blessed to have witnessed hundreds of small miracles every single day... things that make us shake our heads in wonder and in awe.   With this boy, who has exceeded all expectations, everything he does is a small miracle.

 

However, there was one miracle that changed the course of the lives of two families forever.  It happened  fifteen years ago when Scotty was just nine years old.

We had our neighbors over for a swim and it was one of those perfect summer days. As the afternoon was winding down, my friend Danielle got her two boys out of the pool, took off their arm floaties and was getting ready to leave.

 

My three children stayed in the pool and continued to swim. Sarah, who was four at the time, had just learned to swim so I kept my eyes trained on her because I wasn’t yet comfortable with her new found swimming abilities. We had all, Scotty included, spent the last two months standing in the pool while Sarah swam between us.  She would swim to Scotty and he would pick her up, turn her around and send her back to me...over and over again.

While Danielle was packing up her bag her two boys were busy playing in our playhouse that was about fifty feet from our pool…

 

Or so we thought.

 

Little Sean,  just two years old had slipped silently into the pool…we were standing right there...we didn’t see it…we didn’t hear it.  My daughter’s scream brought our attention to Scotty who held Sean, who was coughing and spitting out water, firmly in his grasp.  

 

The next few minutes were a blur of activity…but the bottom line is little Sean was fine, shaken up and frightened, but thank God he was okay.  Finally he rested quietly on his mother's lap while she rubbed his back to get the rest of the water up that he had swallowed.  We sat in stunned silence ...contemplating just how differently this afternoon could have turned out.

 

My neighbor was so grateful and wanted to draw attention to the fact that drowning is silent and can happen to even the most careful and attentive parent. She called the newspaper with her story and a media firestorm ensued.  Scotty’s fifteen minutes of fame lasted for several weeks. 

 

The story made the evening news, the radio, two local newspapers, Steve's newsletter at work and was the front page story on the Angelman Syndrome newsletter.**  All very awesome and completely overwhelming, but to Scotty it was just a lot of people taking his picture, clapping for him and giving him really cool stuff.  He was awarded the “Tiny But Tuff” medal of courage by the Danger Ranger Child Safety Program. The Grapevine Fire Department presented him with The White Helmet Award for his act of heroism. 

He was only the fifth recipient in the award's history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scotty will never know the impact he made that day and how very differently it could have turned out.  It is possible to offer some explanation for his actions that day.  Perhaps he was just doing what I had taught him to do with his sister…perhaps.

 

And we find ourselves back to the question of WHY?  Does this answer the question…Why Scotty?  Could his whole life’s purpose have been wrapped up in this one moment in time...perhaps. 

 

Like the bible verse says, “…so the works of God might be made visible through him.”

 

We will never know for sure but here is what I do know...

 

We have had the extreme blessing to watch Sean grow into a wonderful young man who will soon be graduating from high school and starting the rest of his life.  He never, ever fails to say hello to Scotty and is quick with a hug or a kind word, just like the rest of his family.

 

It could all have been very different if not for this little boy they called a hero.

 

Truly though, no one person can be a hero alone and without a doubt God’s fingerprints are all over this event.  But for Scotty, the little boy of whom not much was expected, with God's help did something very extraordinary that day.  

In my book he is a ♥SUPERHERO♥

♫ You're everything, everything I wish I could be... ♫

 

 

There will be a P.S. to this story next week...there is always a P.S. to all great stories isn't there?

   

**Follow this link to a copy of the Angelman Syndrome Newsletter for the story. 

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8cbKLAaVZuTQ01IQmpGWV9sbzQ 

 

 

I added 2 new videos and some new photos under the Through Scotty's Eyes tab.  

I have been in contact with so many Angleman families and of  course they have many questions so I added a new tab titled Just the Facts.  It is a list of milestones and  what his capabilities are at this time. This is a work in progress.