Our cute little Mick is the glue in our family! Mick has an older brother and sister who adore him. Sometimes we have to pull them off of him because they can’t stop kissing him! Mick is always content, mostly quiet, and his favorite thing to do is push balls all over the house while crawling. He pushes them with his head, and crawls after them, just to push them away again. You wouldn’t believe how many balls we have in our home just for him! He loves his baths and loves to splash us until we feel like we got a bath as well! He loves to throw marbles all over his bedroom. He loves the movie Monsters Inc and smiles every time we turn it on! He is a mama’s boy. It’s his only word, even if he goes days without saying it. Mick and Mom are besties!
We were initially referred to Kids Who Count when Mick was 5 months old and had been hospitalized twice for choking and aspiration. It was then that we learned Mick has a Chromosome deletion on the 14th chromosome and is missing 71 genes that instruct his brain and body how to function. He also has a bicuspid aortic valve and moderate aortic stenosis, hypotonia (muscle weakness), he chokes a lot on foods and fluids, so we thicken his milk. He also has physical, speech and intellectual development delays. Kids Who Count has provided us with a nurse and the best occupational therapist in the world! Mary helps Mick with motor and sensory issues, she has helped us understand his feeding problems and shows us how to help him develop more physical strength. Mary was a huge support to me as the mom especially during the times when I was at the end of my rope not knowing how to get him to take a bottle, watching him choke 20 times in a feeding, and not knowing how to help my baby. Mary helped my husband and I learn how to help Mick develop. She has educated me and been a huge emotional support for our family. We are so grateful for Kids Who Count and all the help we have been given! The help we have received from Kids Who Count has provided Mick with a greater chance of improving his abilities and therefore his quality of life. Thank you!
