METRO
This Woman Adopts A 17-year-old Girl Who Spent 3,739 Days In Foster Care And 24 Different Homes
Being a parent would undoubtedly rank among the top ten most difficult occupations in the world if we had to produce such a list. Raising children, running a household, and working to pay the bills and feed the family is a difficult undertaking for anyone.
Regardless of how difficult the job is, some people choose to take it on even if they don’t have to. They are known as “foster parents…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>
Katie Holstein is an example of this. She made the decision to become a mother in 2017. In January of that year, she applied to become a licensed foster parent.
“I wanted to be a mother, and I was tired of waiting for Mr. Right to do anything about it. In an essay for Love What Matters, she said, “I imagined I’d foster for a few years, help reunite some families, and maybe get to say yes to forever.”
Her application was finally approved after eight months of waiting.
Her first task didn’t take long to arrive. The same day she was accepted, she learned about two siblings in need of foster care: a one-year-old and a two-year-old.
Katie became a first-time mother to two babies overnight. It was “terrifying,” yet it was also “all I could have hoped for and more.”
This strong mother raised 16 children in the next three years. Katie claimed that she was apprehensive to take teenagers since she had heard so many horror stories, but that changed when she met Akyra, a teenage girl.
“On March 9, 2019, I received a call from my favorite social worker. ‘I know you don’t deal with teenagers, but I have this girl,’ she explained. She’s wonderful; she and her current foster family simply require a break. “How about simply for the weekend?” says the author. Katie recalled something.
She was fostering numerous children under the age of five at the time, including Thomas, a newborn who spent some time in the NICU and whom she affectionately refers to as “Tiny.”
Katie wasn’t quite ready to take on another full-time foster child, but she consented because she wanted to assist.
It turns out she made the correct choice.
Akyra was adored by the small children, who referred to her as “big friend.” Katie and she became friends through shared hobbies like Twilight and sleeping in late. Akyra would visit her for a week here and there over the next few months as she bounced around different foster homes. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>
Katie thought it was time to foster Akyra for earnest after almost a year of knowing her. She was 16 at the time and had planned to live with Katie until she turned 18 and was no longer in the system.
“The goal was for her to live with me for approximately a year until she graduated and then go into independent living, which is an incredible program operated by our state,” Katie explained.
“It permits youths who are about to leave the cabinet to dedicate themselves until they are 22.” They are provided with lodging, a stipend, mentors, and assistance with jobs, school, and other issues. Instead than being forced to fend for themselves at the age of 18, it allows children to make a gradual, supervised transition into adulthood.”
However, as time passed, the two got closer. Then Akyra inquired if she had ever considered adopting a teenager. Katie realized what she needed to do at that point.
Akyra became an official Holstein three days before her 17th birthday. Not only that, but at Akyra’s request, Katie also adopted Thomas on the same day!
The joyful ceremony was broadcast live on Zoom. Akyra’s caseworker, family, and friends were all present to witness the historic occurrence.
The trio held a picture shoot to commemorate their time in foster care, which was marked on a board.
Katie believes that now that their story has been shared, it may motivate others to welcome foster children into their homes. She told me that having everything in order wasn’t necessary.
“I would have missed my kids if I had waited for the ‘perfect time.’” I guarantee you, there are children in your neighborhood who are in desperate need of a safe haven right now, and they won’t care whether you’re on a budget, live in a small house, aren’t married, or are still figuring out parenting. She explained, “They need willing families, not ideal ones.”
What a lovely message of humility and kindness! This anecdote just goes to show that being a true family doesn’t always have to mean being related by blood; it may also mean being linked by the heart.
Was this story motivating to you? Don’t forget to tell your friends and family about it!
METRO
Mother left everyone in disbelief after they heard her excuse why she left her baby alone with pit bull only for the dog to chew on the child’s hands and leave her without 5 fingers!
Ellis Artist of Clayton, West Yorkshire was living a normal, 6-year-old life when everything went downhill.
One night, Ellis woke up in pain and screaming to his parents, 37-year-old Paul Artist and 34-year-old Sarah Girdwood.
His head and neck were in tremendous pain and he began to vomit profusely.
This all happened after a minor illness, which he seems to recover quickly from earlier that day.
Ellis’ parents rushed him to a nearby hospital, and a rash started to develop.
First, doctors thought it was meningitis, but antibiotics didn’t help and Ellis was mumbling and moaning in his sleep, unable to wake up…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>
Doctors then performed an MRI scan.
The resulting diagnosis was shocking and horrifying: acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, or ADEM.
This extremely rare condition causes brain swelling, and Ellis now has repeated seizures as a result.
ADEM is a little-understood disease that can begin from even a small infection.
It causes negative reactions to the white matter of the brain, which then affects the body’s immune system.
The result is a severe allergic reaction that involves attacking the immune system and the eroding of nerves’ protective layers.
This condition tends to affect different people in different ways, meaning it is usually impossible for doctors to provide an accurate prognosis – as is the case with Ellis.
75% of those who develop AEDM are able to recover fully, but the remainder may develop significant impairments and disabilities as a result. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>
It is unsure whether Ellis will recover, how severe his condition is, or if he will have any long-term effects from it.
After the AEDM diagnosis, Ellis was placed in a medically-induced coma and rushed to the Leeds General Infirmary.
A week later, another scan revealed that the swelling was no longer just in Ellis’ brain – it was beginning to make its way down his spine.
He was also having mini-seizures due to the brain swelling. But it’s not all bad news – after a while of being on a ventilator, Ellis is able to breathe on his own again.
The Sick Children’s Trust has put up Ellis’ family, including his three brothers, the youngest of which still doesn’t know what is really happening to Ellis.
Ellis, meanwhile, is still in a coma with his parents by his bedside as he receives the 24/7 care that he needs.
It is still unknown whether Ellis will recover fully or not, but doctors are doing everything they can to provide information to his worried family.
It’s expected that Ellis will be at the hospital for at least a couple of months, and will then need constant care at home once he is able to leave.
In order to ease the financial strain, family and friends, as well as Ellis’ school Clayton St John CE Primary School, have been working hard to raise funds for the family.
Ellis is a strong, tough boy and everyone is rooting for him and hoping for his recovery.
A fundraiser for the family with a £5,000 target goal has been set up, and around 92% of funds have been raised at the time of writing.
If you’d like to donate to the cause, you can do so at their JustGiving page.
Losing a child can be a devastating event, no matter what age.It is, however, universally agreed upon that it is worse when the child is lost at such a young age.
Sadly, this sort of early death is expected for some families, due to the circumstances that their child is involved in.
Despite the advancement of modern medicine, there are still plenty of children who suffer from severe health problems from either a young age or even from birth. These children are often predicted to not survive very long.
In a way, their passing can be considered them finally having rest and relief from their life, which has been an uphill battle all the way…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>
Most of these children and their families, however, find themselves with plenty to live for.
They fight, they strive, and they try to use everything at their disposal to push forward and see another day.
Alas, this is a war, and sometimes, the inevitable happens.
In the case of North Carolinian Chelsea Banton, she wasn’t expected to see her third day.
A premature baby born five weeks early, Chelsea had a major problem – she had to deal with excessive fluids creating pressure against her brain.
The doctors gave her at most 36 hours to live.
However, the baby girl would defy all odds, and would live to grow up.
Her life, however, did not get any easier after that first major hurdle.
The girl would spend the following 14 years of her short life fighting against one health problem after another.
Infections, life-threatening viruses, fluid retention, shunt revisions, hydrocephalus – you named it, she suffered it at some point.
In the fall of 2008, Chelsea was struck by yet another round of advanced pneumonia, which had developed from a bad cold she caught. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>
This latest bout of illness seemed to be the last one she could handle – the girl was forced to stay in the hospital for seven weeks, completely dependant on life support.
It was at this point that Colleen Banton, her mother, was forced to make a heartbreaking decision.
In the interest of not prolonging her daughter’s suffering, she opted to keep the ventilator off the next time her daughter was strong enough to breathe on her own.
It was essentially plugging the plug for the girl – by this point, Colleen had decided that should her daughter’s time had come, then there was no use in delaying the inevitable.
While praying with friends and family who had come out to support this mother, Colleen was suddenly called over to a nearby monitor by the pediatrician nurse.
There, her attention was directed to the bright light that had appeared in front of the door to the pediatrician unit.
Astonished, Colleen took a quick photo of it with her camera, then went to check this strange light in person.
Oddly enough, it wasn’t there physically.
A miracle occurred shortly thereafter – three days later, Chelsea was well enough to return home once again.
Colleen is convinced that the figure was an angel who helped her daughter.
Chelsea would then go on to live for another 7 more years before passing away in 2015, at the age of 21.
Her story is one for the ages!
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