We were told that Chad had
Coffin-Lowry Syndrome
when he was only 3 months old. I
remember the doctor paused for a long time. When he spoke, he said
our little boy would be severely mentally retarded, that he might never
walk or talk. Although his voice was steady as he spoke, there were
tears in his eyes. As first-time parents, we were completely
unprepared for this news. I remember being brave until we got home.
Then we just held Chad, cried, and told him how much we loved him.
My head was filled with
images I had already dreamed for my son's future. I went through the
list of events that would never happen as I had imagined them--my son's
first steps & words, his first day of school, high school graduation,
college, marriage, children of his own. The simplest expectations
for a parent to have was now shattered.
As time passed and with
God's & my family's help I realized that those were all my dreams, not
Chad's. Chad has his own set of dreams. They may not be like
those of other children, but they are his dreams, just the same.
Therefore, I was very determined to allow Chad's dreams to succeed by not
letting others put limits on my son's abilities. I wanted to give
him every opportunity possible to learn and to be loved.
As you can see from viewing
the
Video of Chad growing
up,
Chad's family (The Wards, Chandlers, Pattersons, Ledbetters, &
Seeholzers) wanted to give Chad the world. Chad goes wherever we
go! We take him to Church, on vacations; to basketball & baseball
games; & musicals. We taught him how to walk & talk, play
basketball, swim all by himself, & even with the guidance of his
cousins he jet skis & tubes behind our boat. God has blessed Chad with very loving & supporting
families.
But, Chad was still missing
one very important piece in his life- A Good Friend. Chad hasn't
been invited to a birthday party other then his family members. He's
never been invited to another child's house to play or have a sleep over.
Actually, we've never heard a knock at our door from a neighborhood child
wanting to play with Chad. When we are out in public I estimate
about 1 out of every 30 people who notices Chad will
actually acknowledge him with a smile or say "Hello". That's before
Canine Companions For Independence (CCI)
came in to play & before
Parnell
became apart of our family.
Now in public,
more people come up to Chad and Parnell and greet them both. Our
Goal is to teach others that Chad & others people with all different types
of disabilities, have thoughts, feelings, and long to be excepted just
like you. Therefore, Please don't ignore people who are different
than you. Learn to look them in the eyes. smile, and say "hello".
They might not react like you expect, but your act of kindness will touch
their hearts forever.
How I learned about Canine
Companions For Independence is a story in itself. The short version
is that I learned about CCI when
I was in High School in the early 1980's. My parents received some
information about CCI in the mail and gave it to me thinking I would be
interested in helping out this worthwhile charity. I agreed with
them and have been giving cash donations to CCI ever since. WOW! I
never thought the past could or would ever come back to help.
Then one day, in 1998, as I
was sending in my donation to CCI, l thought what better friend could Chad
have then a dog. So I called CCI to see if they could help us.
I filled out a lot of paper work; made it through a telephone interview;
then a 4 hour personal interview at
CCI North
Central Center with the trainers, Chad, & myself; then we were
accepted as a candidate and placed on the CCI Team Training waiting list
in 2002. We were finally given an invitation & completed Team Training in
November 2005. Seven Years later, Chad brought home his dog & now his
best friend. Parnell has been Chad's S.O.U.L. (Source of
Unconditional Love) ever since!
Chad is 15 years old now &
we are very thankful that he is able to do much more than we were told to
expect when he was diagnosed. He can talk in 3 to 5 word sentences.
He can walk short distances and he is the most lovable child you would
ever want to meet. God has truly blessed us!
Written by: Nancy
Ward-Patterson (Chad's Mother)
