Overflow: For Jonathan Sake Outreach Day 7- RALPH

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

For Jonathan Sake Outreach Day 7- RALPH

Ralph has been faithfully coming to outreach with his mother for the past 4+ years. In fact he was one of the very first children in the outreach program.

During the outreach party a few weeks ago his mother shared how before coming to outreach she used to cry everyday because of the way her son was. When she walked outside with her son people would point/laugh & make fun of her. She felt hopeless…unable to care for her child…unsure what to do. Since coming to outreach she said she has hope…her son is improving…she knows how special he is. Ralph’s mother then proceeded to encourage the other mothers present about that hope & to not take for granted their ability to impact their child’s life by taking care of them & fighting for them. It was super powerful to see her up in front of over 100 people sharing her story & hope!

Ralph has Athetoid Cerebral Pasly which makes it hard for him to control his limbs. He cannot roll over, sit, stand on his own BUT is completely cognitively with it…He is super bright! Ralph has been working on head & trunk control, weight-bearing through feet in the stander, walker, & against therapy ball. He loves to play with toys but requires hand over hand assistance. His favorite toy is the IPAD which he loves playing the cause-effect games. Ralph is highly motivated by watching clips from the cars movie on my phone. He will lift his head during tummy-time to watch. He loves sensory input of swinging and bouncing on the therapy ball.

I have gotten the privilege of visiting Ralph a couple times at his home this year. He lives with his parents and sister. They rent a small room in a concrete block house with concrete floors. Ralph always gets super excited when we come to visit. He gets the biggest smile & starts moving his arms & legs all over the place in JOY! Ralph has Athetoid Cerebral Palsy which makes it very difficult to control his arms/legs. He is brilliant & completely understands what is going on around him & is so alert. Ralph is lucky in the fact that his mother & father are still together & love him so much. He also has a little sister. Ralph’s mother earlier this year started having heart problems. She now is required to be on an expensive heart medicine (every time she goes to the dr. the medicine seems to be more expensive) she frequently cannot afford the medicine or the dr. appointments. When she is not on the medicine her heart hurts & she is not able to take care of her family or Ralph which takes a huge toll on her emotionally. Prior to her heart problems she made a living by sewing with a foot pedal sewing machine. Her heart doctor said that sewing with a foot pedal sewing machine is too much work for her heart & was not to do that anymore. She does know how to use an electric sewing machine but does not have one or consistent access to power.

Ralph’s dad is a very talented carpenter. On our first home visit we found out his father’s carpentry shop was broken into & all his tools were stolen. So not only was mom sick/out of work but dad was unable to work because he had no tools. We were blessed that last time we went to visit we were able to tell him that we had work for him (we were going to hire him to help build my new therapy clinic) AND that we were gong to be able to pay him with tools that Kimmy’s House had collected after hearing about the need after our first visit. As I write this Ralph’s dad is working on building a therapy clinic that is going to impact so many lives/families in the future AND when he is finished he will have tools to continue working & providing for his family.

At the end of our last visit, we were also able to bless them with a solar power Christian radio from radio 4VEH with the MP3 of the New Testament on it. A way to bring encouragement to this family through worship music, sermons, Christian teaching, Bible Studies, etc.