There is no feeling in the world like a Mother with a Disability being able to take care of her child

There is no feeling in the world like a mother being able to take care of her child, whether it be feeding them, clothing them, giving them a healing hand when they are sick or just being there to listen when they need to talk, however, the feeling is even more intense when the mother has a physical disability and these otherwise simple tasks may not be so simple. There is no greater gift than being a mother.

Often times the mother needs more assistance than the child, however, when the mother and child can work together to meet the needs of the child, magic happens! That magic happened tonight. My name is Dina Garcia, I have Cerebral Palsy, I am married to Daniel and we have a 5-year-old son, Brandon.

Brandon is sick with a fever right now. For any mother, that would be worrisome enough, however, since I do not have very good coordination, I am not able to take Brandon’s temperature or give him his medication.

The key to independence is good assistance! As a mom, I do not want things done for me, I want the tools to be the most hands on mother and be interactive with Brandon.

I have an assistant who gave me the key to unlock the door to more independence when she taught Brandon how to take his own temperature. So now, he takes his temperature and reads it. The other barrier for me was how do I give my son his medication. Well, by me thinking out of the box and Brandon’s willingness to help mommy, he poured his medication and I told him when to stop. We are an awesome team!

Healing my Child Back to Health

My ability as a parent never ceases to amaze me! When my child needs me, nothing gets my way!

When  Brandon woke up in the middle of the night, he felt very warm. Instead of waking Daniel up, I decided I can take care of Brandon myself. I asked Brandon to take his temperature. I got scared when I saw his temperature was 102.9, however this fear was not going to get the better of me. I need to be strong for him.

We heated up chicken nuggets because he needed to eat, in order for me to give him medication. Brandon was so tired & lethargic from the high fever, he just kept laying his head on the chair & closing his eyes.

Meanwhile I was going back and forth, between him and the bathroom, constantly applying cool wash cloths to his forehead and neck to bring the fever down.

At one point, Brandon looked at me and said in a weak voice,  "Mommy, what if I don't ever go back to school and see my friends?" Ok, now I am getting scared. However, my fear instantly turned into motivation and a drive! How am I going to get this kid to eat so I can give him the medication?

I told him a story about his body being weak because these monsters called "fever" were attacking his body. I told him he needed to eat the food to build up his strength. Then, with strength of his body and the medication, it will get rid of all the monsters out of his body. He said, "Mommy, I don't want these monsters in my body." I said, "Ok, let's fight!" He began eating very slowly. Every time he wanted to stop, I said, "Come on Buddy, fight the monsters. You're a fighter!" I swung my hands in the air and said, "come on, don't let the monsters win, you are getting stronger!"

I was surprised that this was actually working, he was eating and his color was coming back into his face. I guess the poor little guy felt so bad, he just wanted to feel better.  When he finished his chicken nuggets he looked better! He was more animated. He took his medicine, then we decided to wake up daddy in order to give Brandon an alcohol bath. Between the food, the medicine & the alcohol bath, Brandon's temperature was down to 100 and he was back to his bouncing, happy self. Daddy went back to bed while Brandon and I started washing the dishes, I rinsed and he put them in the dishwasher.

When I put Brandon back to bed, I said, "Brandon, I am very proud of you! You are a fighter, just like mommy!!" It was only 1.5 hours, but yet I felt like I conquered the world, I nurtured my child back to health.