A little about our family

We are The Hyndman Family. It all started when Greg and I, high school sweethearts, got married. Greg and I just celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary on June 30, 2009. We've been a couple for 27 years!
Greg works as a Caster Team Leader at a local steel mill and is in school completing his bachelors degree. I, Amy, have a Bachelors Degree in Social Work and a Masters Degree in Education/Special Education and have worked with individuals with disabilities in some capacity for 19 years.
We were SO excited when Nicholas Austin Hyndman (now prefers "Nick") was born on August 18, 1993! Then on September 20, 1999, we were just as excited when Isabella Grace Hyndman (she now goes by "Bella" most of the time!) joined our family. We now have three dogs as well, Oreo, our 9-year old Boston Terrier, Ozzie, our 4-year old Pom mix, and most recently, we welcomed Charger, Nick's service dogs from Assistance Dogs of America (www.adai.org) in April 2009. Charger is a 2 year-old lab/golden retriever mix.
When Nick was about 6 days old, he suffered brain damage due to a medical problem, and on December 7, 1993, he was diagnosed with athetoid cerebral palsy. WOW, it's been a journey since then. Greg and I were young, read all of the books about parenting, did everything the doctors told us to do, and NEVER dreamed of anything going wrong. We were SO unprepared, although I don't know if anyone could be prepared. The roller coaster of emotions has been constant for the past 15 years, and it's been a whirlwind 0f hospitalizations, illnesses, doctors, specialists, therapists (physical, occupational, and speech therapy), meetings, school issues, durable medical equipment, surgery, social issues, and more. Someone once told me, it's like "parenthood magnified" because you have all of the issues of parenting a child, plus the layers of "disability" stuff. I agree with that description. I don't want to sound like it is all bad though. Having Nick and Bella has been the most rewarding and best thing we've ever done (besides meeting and getting married!). We are a happy family!
Anyhow, more about Nick.........at 8 years of age, Nick was diagnosed with a bilateral (both ears) progressive (mild-moderate) hearing loss. Another whole disability we never expected. That hit us seemingly out of the blue. Nick also has very severe GI reflux and gets sick pretty easily.
The cerebral palsy affects all four of Nick's limbs and his speech, characterized as "quadriplegia". Cerebral Palsy (or CP), for those of you who don't know, is a chronic condition (caused by damage to the brain) that affects muscle control and coordination. We've found a great deal of good information about cerebral palsy on the United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) web site, www.ucp.org. In Nick's case, the basil ganglia area of the brain is damaged. Nick's CP affects all parts of his body and he has "low tone" CP and involuntary movements. In Nick's case, there is NO cognitive impairment, so his CP affects his physically only. Nick uses a walker and wheelchair to get around, although he's worked VERY hard over the years to walk and can walk, although it is unsteady and he can fall a lot. He also uses a Segway ( a scooter) instead of a power chair (www.segway.com) so he can be at people's eye level and we had a seat made for it. He uses the Segway at school. Nick has always worn, and still wears, leg braces (AFO, or Ankle Foot Orthotics). Nick's fine motor skills (handwriting, being able to button clothing, etc.) are affected as well. Nick's speech is also affected. We can understand Nick, and so can most people who know him, but his speech can be quiet and people really have to just SLOW down and listen to hear and understand him. As you can imagine, this can be a problem with other kids at school. Nick also wears hearing aids. (on his third pair! UGH! That is a whole other story for another time!) Nick is in regular education classes and will be in 11th grade at high school. He is a great student and made the honor roll during his entire 10th grade year. He needs a para-professional (para) for assistance with taking notes and other physical needs and Nick needs and uses the computer to write in order to keep up with the pace of his regular education classes. (Technology is VERY important, again, more on that one later!) Nick just passed the Ohio Graduation Test (OGTs) this past year, 10th grade, in the highest categories in every subject, so he was THRILLED to have that out of the way, and to not have to take his final exams this year! It was very cool! Nick loves sports, music, the computer, his cell phone (texting has been so wonderful for Nick and has allowed him to communicate easily with others and not have to worry about them understanding him!), video games, and more. Just like most kids his age. He plays challenger baseball and would love to play competitive sports. College and driving (yes, driving.....we had an evaluation and Nick can drive with a minor modification on the steering wheel!) are around the corner and it is all coming so fast! We are dreading it and celebrating it at the same time if that makes sense. This is what we want for Nick, for him to have all of the opportunities that other kids his age have and to be out there in the world like everyone else! At the same time, we worry like a lot of parents do, but are loving it too. Go Nick! One more thing..........Nick received his service dog, Charger, in April of this year, just three months ago from ADAI. He is working hard to bond with Charger (they have an intense bond!) and work on Charger's commands. Charger can retrieve items for Nick, get him a snack out of the fridge, open doors, pick things up, take off Nick's socks, pull up his covers, get Nick the phone and/or his cell phone, help steady Nick when he walks, and more. Then they get to hang out together and keep each other company. This has been great for Nick because one of the hardest issues he deals with now is social issues, or the lack of friends and peers his age to REALLY hang out with and do things with. Most kids either ignore him (and stare) or they are "nice" to him, might smile or say hello in the hallway at school, but they don' t really talk to him, get to know him, hang out with him, etc. It's getting a little better in high school, but we're not totally there yet. Texting, Face book, e-mail has also helped Nick, but we, like other parents, monitor that. We hope it will continue to get better. This summer, Nick has attended golf camp and is volunteering as a camp counselor for Camp Cricket at The Ability Center of Greater Toledo (ACT), www.abilitycenter.org, and is loving it! More on ACT later too.
Isabella, or Bella, is 9 and going into 4th grade. She is a SWEET little girl and loves animals, reading, dance (takes tap, jazz, and ballet), and she is a natural caregiver. Bella is so empathetic towards other, including people with disabilities in our circles and at school, and she and Nick are VERY close, even though there are six years between them in age. Bella has really witnessed Nick's struggles and triumphs and we've ALWAYS spoken to her honestly, at the level she could understand at the time, about Nick's disability (and other disabilities). We've collected many books for children on disabilities and have read them to her and talked to her about her feelings good and bad about having a sibling with a disability. Bella has spoken to her class at school about Nick's disability and read them books about CP. She also spoke to a college class (graduate special ed students) when she was 8, in a "sibling panel" about her experiences having a brother with CP and did GREAT!
As a family, we are close, and spend all of the time we can doing things together. We all have our individual interests like all people, but our focus is really on our family as a unit too. We are really a "team". Many of the events in our life have revolved around Nick's disability at times (therapies, surgeries, assistance dog trainings, Make-A-Wish foundation trip, ETC.), good things and not so great things. We feel that is just what families do and we wouldn't do it any differently given another option. So, sometimes, the times that have been challenging, like when we went to Canada (Ability Camp) for 6 weeks for Nick to receive intensive therapy in 2002, it was hard, but it was also one of the BEST times of our life! (The time we spent together during those 6 weeks, we often look back on fondly and we had so much fun on those weekends off in a beautiful place!) Because of Nick's disability, we've met some of our greatest and best friends and had experiences that we would not trade for anything. We've met some great people along the way. We've also learned some of the most valuable life lessons about what is REALLY important, health and family.
Well, this post is much longer than I planned but I wanted to give you an idea of who we are and I'll be writing more along the way. Thanks for reading!
Amy