"You cannot appreciate the light unless you have lived through the darkness."

One year ago today Jason and I handed over our sweet (almost) 6 month old baby girl to a neurosurgeon and a team of neurologists in hopes of putting an end to the catastrophic infantile spasms she was having. There is nothing that will ever be able describe how vulnerable we both felt at that moment...knowing that Charlie Claire had to have surgery but not knowing what the outcome of the surgery would be. We literally were putting all of our eggs in one basket because we had already pursued all of the other options available.

We were surrounded by our family and anxiously awaited the pages that would update us on the status of the surgery but it was agonizing since the nurse could not provide us with any details other than "Charlie is stable." When we got the page letting us know that they were closing C up and we could meet Dr. Tye (surgeon) at the PICU we ran, we could not get up there fast enough.

Having Dr. Tye greet us with the smile on his face and a thumbs up was the most relieving moment of our lives...our girl made it through one heck of a surgery. However, we weren't out of the woods yet...we had to wait to see if the surgery successfully stopped Charlie Claire's infantile spasms.

The morning of March 30, 2011 was the last time we saw Charlie Claire have a cluster of spasms.

There will never be a day that goes by that we don't acknowledge and appreciate the new lease on life that this surgery brought to Charlie Claire and our family. We are blessed.

In this last year since Charlie Claire had her life changing surgery we have experienced life in a way we never would have had C not had infantile spasms and brain surgery. We have worked hard on teaching Charlie so many things - from super basic to challenging, we have rejoiced in the tiniest of triumphs, we have learned to appreciate life on a whole different level and to not take things for granted. We learned that Charlie Claire is fighter and she has more determination and perseverance than anyone else we have ever met.

We have had the most unbelievable support system. Thank you to our families...grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. Thank you Jackson. Thank you friends. Thank you to C's neuro team at VCU. Thank you to everyone who prayed and is continuing to pray for Charlie Claire. Thank you to C's team...Wendy, Nina, Stephanie and April. These ladies come to our house week after week and have spent countless hours with our family and love Charlie Claire like she is their own. These ladies have become such a huge part of our lives.


Last year before Charlie Claire's surgery, my sweet friend Julie said to me "we must have faith the reward will be great" and those were the words in my head the entire time Charlie Claire was in surgery. The reward has been great. While our hard work is far from over we have a completely different mindset heading into this next year...      

      

Look how far our girl has come...ENJOY this video of C's last year! :) You can view it in full screen by clicking the button on the bottom right hand side of the video box.