After our first son Jordan was born in December of 2000, my husband Alain & I had decided that we definitely wanted to have more children. This did not come easily for us. I had 2 miscarriages before getting pregnant for Joshua.

Joshua was born on June 5, 2004 after a regular and uneventful pregnancy. Once my labour started, we headed to the local hospital where it was discovered that Josh was breach. They then scheduled us for a cesarean section but 2 more urgent cases bumped me down to the bottom of the list. Needless to say that by the time they started to prep me for the OR it was too late and Joshua was born vaginally.

Joshua was in respiratory distress from birth. This did not scare me since Jordan, our first had had the same problems. I didn't think twice about it. After 2 days in the ICU and being intubated and unsuccessfully extubated, Joshua was then transferred to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Once at the hospital, they seemed to run every test possible. It was discovered that Joshua's vocal cords were paralyzed. They thought that it was attributed to the fact that he was born breach and that the cords would most likely heal given time. He was very hypotonic which led to more tests. It was then discovered that he had an extra marker chromosome. I remember speaking to genetics and them not giving us any hope whatsoever for Joshua's future. After 5 weeks of being on a respirator, the doctors offered us 2 choices for Josh: either to have a tracheostomy or to take him off the vent and let him pass away. Their recommendation was to let him go. They told us that they did not know what kind of quality of life that he would have. They didn't know if he would be able to see, hear, speak, understand, walk etc...

Needless to say that option 2 was not an option for Al and I and that we opted for the tracheostomy. Immediately after the surgery, it was as though we had been given a new child. Joshua responded quite well to the surgery. He was happy and more active then we had ever seen him. After spending 12 weeks in the NICU, we were finally on our way home. Joshua is now 15 months old and the most resilient child that I have ever met! He has hearing aids for both ears, a tracheostomy to breath, a G-tube to eat but he is impressing our physiotherapist as well as our occupational therapist. He is getting stronger everyday. He is still not sitting up on his own or weight bearing yet but in time and with work, I can see him doing more than what they ever told us. We believe that Joshua is thriving here at home because of all of the love and support of his family. Never underestimate the power of love!! Joshua is living proof that miracles do happen and I thank God for my angel everyday!!

Sincerely,