Finding Joy In Adventure

Eight years ago our daughter Linleigh was born under severe distress and didn’t breathe on her own until 19 minutes after she was born, with the implementation of tremendous medical intervention. Subsequently, she has a plethora of disabilities and diagnoses. We now spend countless hours a month at doctor’s appointments both in Columbus and Cincinnati, as well as in weekly therapies. Due to the medical complexity of our daughter it was hard to find good care for her, and my wife ultimately stepped aside from her career to focus on caring for our daughter. (Besides, no employer was going to allow her the time away for all the appointments and therapies our daughter needed.) We were tossed into a life that neither one of us expected, not in a million years. Since Linleigh was born we have added two ornery rascals to our family and we couldn’t imagine life without them. As you would guess, however, our budget is tight and leaves little room for fun family splurges.

In April we found ourselves with our daughter hospitalized at Nationwide Children’s Hospital on life support. It was quite a tumultuous few days, but we pulled through. Someone had mentioned A Kid Again to us and we signed up and attended our first adventure at the Columbus Zoo. That evening, I couldn’t have been any more impressed with the organization, its staff, and the amazing experience we had.  The thoughtfulness in the planning of this event was unlike anything we had experienced before. It was an absolute joy!

In addition, we found ourselves embracing a great sense of community. We weren’t the only family somewhere with special needs; we were in the majority for once!

There was great comfort in this. Since then, we have attended Kings Island and the Caps and Crowns 5k and Family Fun Fest as a family, and greatly enjoyed those as well. These were all experiences that we would have likely not enjoyed but for A Kid Again. The joy and bonding these adventures have cultivated have been priceless, and we are tremendously grateful.