My Story
Why my charity of chioce is important to me...
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Keith Jr.'s Story
Keith was born prematurely 12 years after his older sister, Arteneice
and diagnosed with hydrocephalus. Javaze, Keith's mother, did not
even get to hold Keith until he was two months old.
His family was told from the beginning that Keith would not be able
to speak and he would not be able to function like a normal human
being. Javaze said, "We were told to expect the worse." For the first
year of Keith's life, his family lived day to day not knowing what to
expect or what was to come. They knew he had brain damage, but
not how much. At one year old, he was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy.
After that, he and his family were bombarded with diagnoses, moving
from doctors to specialists to surgeons and back. It was an emotional
roller coaster. But through it all, Keith never stopped smiling.
Keith has had a number of surgeries and two separate long term hospital
stays. It was in these long periods in the hospital that Javaze found out
about Starlight. Here is Javaze's story about becoming involved in Starlight:
"As a FunCenter was wheeled into Keith's room, I thought to myself "Wow, Starlight really does a lot for this hospital." On the same day, Kathy Dickson, the director of Child Life at LaRabida hospital, told me about what Starlight could do for me outside of the hospital. Kathy was extremely excited, having watched me spend the last three months on a hospital pallet next to Keith.
She knew the pressure I felt as a single parent, trying to give both my children the attention and time I felt they deserved. She knew Starlight would allow me the chance to give them those opportunities. I see things on TV all of the time, events coming up, and think about taking the kids. But, again, being a single parent taking care of a child with a disability, there's no way I could spend the money on tickets for my two children and myself AND a friend to help with Keith.
I was ecstatic when I got the welcome pack from Starlight saying Keith had been accepted into the program. I thought, "Finally, I can take my kids to those events!" Starlight made things easier for me, as a parent, just knowing Keith will be able to participate in these types of events where I don't have to wonder if I can afford them financially.
In my opinion, Starlight is how I know my family is loved, Starlight has shown us that someone cares about the things we are going through. When I meet the other parents from the Starlight family and see how they all interacted with one another and the staff members, I then realized, we were a part of something special. I finally found a group of people who can understand what I'm going through, who are an extended family."
My name is Stacy Holloway and I have a Cavalier King Charles that is 2 years old. We visit assisted living centers every other Tuesday. We represent Therapaws and enjoy our visits. I am looking forward to the upcoming event to learn about more opportunities that CharLee and I can attend.
