Feel free to share, ill post two revisions of this, one where it is a maximum of 650 words, and one where i fill out my sisters side of the story in a bit more detail, and add stories from my childhood. thanks for taking the time to read.
Born in La Grande Oregon on February 4th 1994 my
brother Allan was born atypically. Flash forward 2 years, April 30th,
I am born healthy and loudly crying, my parents were happy for that, in
Scottsdale Arizona. Flash forward two more years and a move to Los Angeles
California, my sister Mia, also born atypically. What is atypical? My brother
and sister were born with a genetic defect, Cri-Du-Chat, which is French for
cry of the cat, they cry softly and quietly when young. Cri-Du-Chat also causes
mental retardation, and other physical effects. For example my brother cannot
gain weight, however he has great gross motor skills. My Sister has always been
a chubby blonde haired child, she has terrible gross motor skills, but her fine
motor skills are great. Here is snippet of my abnormal life.
So flash
forward to my first memories, I remember of my brother and sister, is of
playing in the back yard of my current house, in the dirt. We owned two yellow
steel Tonka trucks, and my brother and I would sit in our backyard and play
with them, I never even realized he was developmentally delayed, until I was
probably six. I knew that I was smarter and bigger than my sister, but I was
older, I was also bigger and smarter than my brother, and I didn’t get that he
was older than me. This confused me at the start, and I began to wonder why
that was, eventually my parents explained the situation to me. Right then and
there I loved my brother even more.
He was always my friend, my loveable goofy
brother who has the most contagious smile you have ever seen, though there is no
perfect child. One day I remember quite vividly we have air vents in our floor.
Allan pulled one out when I was probably ten; he just left it there, upside down.
Keeping in mind he has been told not to play with the air vents and leave them out,
they have sharp edges. However when I got in the room something entirely
different made me mad and I literally was hopping mad I’m sure you get the rest
of the picture. That’s my awesome brother for you, in a nutshell, loveable and
goofy, sometimes obnoxious.
My sister is
a goof ball too. She would always go in my room, and “borrow” (*cough* steal *cough*)
my stuff and play with it, and when I would get home from football or wrestling
she would go and hide, of course not what I enjoyed most. A year ago she was
diagnosed with Angioimmunoblastic T-cell Lymphoma; this diagnosis is beyond rare
for anyone under the age of 20 having only a couple diagnoses ever. She went
through her first round of chemo, no longer chubby. She went to Salt Lake City in
early November to get a bone marrow transplant from her own cells, anticipated to
be there for three months came home in early December on my dad’s birthday, with
new dark brown hair. They thought that the cancer was gone, they were wrong. In
June they found the cancer was back so they started several new drugs for chemo.
Currently my sister is in Salt Lake City with my mother, and they have a month
left. This time however the donor of the bone marrow was our sister Jessica age
five, so far in early October everything seems good, and she should be home
with my mom in a month.
I realize
that I have really told the background of my siblings, and that’s because they
are what has made me. My siblings have taught me so many things; patience,
responsibility, Trust, understanding, listening, patience, love, respect,
kindness, long suffering, and did I mention patience. My siblings are who I am,
and I am their protector.
