Well, my boy has on a jersey. Crazy right?? We made it the entire football season seizure free. Well almost, we still have one more game, so knock on some wood for me ok!!
He made me prouder than I think I could have ever be. Only because he never gave up even though there were days he really really wanted too. It was crazy tough and I cannot believe that we made it.
So lets talk about the coaches for a second....whoo whee the coaches lol!! There were some days I wanted to walk on to that field and punch them square in the face. The mom in me wanted them to care that Braydon was epileptic and needed "special care". The epilepsy warrior is both B and me is very glad that was never used a crutch and no one ever treated him as the epileptic kid. They pushed him harder and harder every day not allowing him to give up even when is body physically quit working. He collapsed on the field a few times and they made him get back up and just do it. The mom was angry the warrior was proud.
Braydon said several times his decision to play football was to prove that an epileptic kid could play football and he did....he proved it. Whether or not he plays next year remains unknown. Our decision to play did not come lightly and still might have been the wrong decision. But at the end of the day it was ours.
Over the years I'm learning to let him be a kid and allow him to make the decisions that he wants. It is very hard to let it go and let it be. Every decision made could be the wrong one. One late night could result in a seizure he doesn't wake up from. One missed dose of medication could result in a seizure at school that causes him to hit his head and lose control of his bladder in front of 30 classmates. But I also have to know that these are things that he will have to control as he gets older. I wont always be there physically to help him, i will always emotionally.
My family is a family of epilepsy warriors. Shawn and I constantly make decisions based on epilepsy, Claudia is Braydons "care taker" when mom and dad are not around making sure if he has a seizure she knows what to do.
Our lives were forever changed the day Braydon had is first seizure. We are a family of 1 in 26. We will win, we will advocate and we will raise awareness.
To all the families who lost a warrior, you are my biggest fear. I pray every night to never be a family with a lost warrior and I will continue to pray for the lost warriors.
