Quote of the day… January 9, 2012

About post heroes

It’s now 2011. I am 46 years old married to my incredible wife, Sara, with whom I have two children Carly (10) Zoë (7); Billy (19) and Tori (17). Sara and I were married in May of 1998, and I became an instant stepfather with no training, and a husband with very little training. I am a real estate consultant in the Maryland area taking a leave of absence from the profession to follow my dreams. I am a very lucky man. In July of 2000, I had my first little girl Carly, a healthy beautiful baby and a moment of joy. In 2003, Sara and I were expecting our fourth child, and much to our surprise and fear, we were told that our child in gestation had a chromosome abnormality called Turners Syndrome. Common to so many parents-to-be, we felt the Earth-stopping fear of “not our baby.” Although given a less than desirable option, we chose to have our beautiful girl regardless of consequences. She was born January 30, 2004, and she was magnificent, Although she looked well for the first hours of her life it was revealed that she had some life-threatening cardiac issues and needed to be transferred to Children’s Hospital in Washington, DC, immediately. At three days old, she underwent the first of many operations to come, starting with repairing a coarctation of her aorta. After 3½ years of what many would call Hell, I call humbling lessons in life. I’m lying. It was Hell. Zoë has endured four open-heart surgeries, one closed heart surgery, and four heart catheterizations, all at Children’s Hospital and all before she celebrated her fifth birthday.