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Saturday, November 13, 2010

Spina Bifida

Many within the adoption community are scared of the words "SPINA BIFIDA". I know I was scared to death of the disability thinking children with spina bifida were in wheel chairs and were cognitively impaired. This preconceived notion could not be farther from the truth. When we completed our special needs check list that indicated the disabilities we were willing to take and those we were unwilling to take, spina bifida was defiantly a disability we were NOT willing to take. It scared me and I didn't really give it a second thought. Then, Finley found us. We didn't go looking for her-- instead through divine arrangement of circumstances, she was placed in our laps and it was so obviously God's leading that we knew she was our daughter-- EVEN WITH THE DIAGNOSIS OF SPINA BIFIDA!!! Finley is about the best case scenario of a child with spina bifida but there are things that could come up in the future that may require action on our part and even possibly surgery. We knew Finley was our daughter and even if she was affected more with her special need, we would have dealt with is-- she was our daughter God had given us!!!

Anyway, this is a video explaining spina bifida and what life is like living with this special need. The first mom on the video is a mom who gave me lots of info when we first found Finley and she made me realize spina bifda was not scary and could easily be managed. She is a wonderful mom and this video is a great resource for those who want more info on SB. There are many many children and babies on the China special needs list with spina bifida and many of them sit there for long periods of time because people are scared of the disability. These are highly desirable children-- beautiful-- many are very young-- bright as can be-- but they sit on the list and are not adopted because people have the same view of spina bifida that I once had. I try to advocate for these kids and let people know this is not a scary need and that people should open their hearts to these children. SB can be an extremely minimal need!!

Thanks for watching the video.

7 comments:

  1. Great video, thanks so much for sharing it

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  2. Yes, yes, yes!! Thank you for sharing. Some things you never know...unless you ask! I am so glad that Finley has found her forever family with the Bocks - she is already so blessed!! As are you guys!

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  3. I am advocating for a seven year old boy with sb from China who is continent, intelligent, and active, so if anyone watching this video and also reading this blog is interested, I'd love to share more. We reviewed his file, met with the spina bifida team at our state medical school/teaching hospital, have seen multiple photographs and video of him.

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  4. Great video.. thanks for sharing.
    Love ya..
    Miss ya tons..

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  5. Hi Christie,
    I saw your comments on RQ, but for some reason I can't get on to comment. Anyway, I am also from So Cal and have a daughter from Shenyang. She is now 3 and we got her at 18 mths. If you want to e-mail me privately we cam talk re: weather and what to do in Shen Yang. We went in March and it was 0. Jennie DiPaolo
    DiPaolo_Family@sbcglobal.net
    Our blog is DiPaolo-Family.blogspot.com It shows a lot of how we dressed and what we did!

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  6. what an eye opening video, thanks for sharing.

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  7. Hey Christy! I just happened to check your blog today to see how your journey to Finley is going... Thank you so much for posting the video, and for your sweet comments!! :) I pray the rest of your journey is super quick.

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