The Odds Are Against Me

Finley Lou Sanders & Me

On the left, meet bub. Bub is better known as Finley Lou. But I affectionately call her bub.

Bub was born a primi. She grew up in an incubator. Her mother, my friend Julia, went through hell.

8 weeks later and bub looks unhealthy. Clearly.

Ahem.

Now meet bub's friend on the right, Mariah. I affectionately call her me.

Mariah was born with spino bifida. Back then they didn't screen for it so mom was never given the "abortion" recommendation. (Not that she would have taken it. She was Catholic, had a love of people & family, had 3 kids, had lost a baby before me, and had survived polio - she was a strong woman with strong beliefs).

These days women are screened for spino bifida and counselled on the abortion option. I actually know a woman who was 3 or 4 months pregnant and lost her baby. I later learned she had aborted it due to a spino bifida prognosis.

She had already chosen a name for her baby.

Back to me. Had they screened my mother she would have been given a set of odds that would have appeared bleak. This child will be slow to develop, slow mentally, etc etc.

Wonder what would have happened if she'd listened to those odds?

Just after I was born I was severely allergic to milk. I became emaciated - "Ethiopian baby" they called me. My parents quickly discovered the allergy and I happily discovered kidney bean milk. I say happily because I balooned into a cute, fat, happy baby whose nickname changed to "buddha." (It pretty much has stayed the same ever since).

I grew up. Always in the top percentile for everything. Athletics, IQ - I say this not to be vain (because I certainly didn't craft me) but to make a point. Isn't that what genetic screening and all those odds are all about? Ensuring that your baby turns out ... like I did...?

In this season we struggle with odds. Justin is in a coma. The odds are against him. The numbers. Even if he wakes up his future is bleak. He will always be... (fill in the blank).

And I wonder what would have happened if my parents knew I had spino bifida and spent my childhoold telling me, "you're just a little bit slower than the other kids honey."

I wonder what would have happened if in the 5th grade I didn't have my FIRST teacher who believed in me and told me he thought I was smart?

Thoughts. Become. Things.

Odds. Are. Odds.

Odds. Are. Meant. To. Be. Overcome.

Keep. Austin. Justin.