EXPENSES OF A SPECIAL NEEDS CHILD

Having a baby with special needs is VERY expensive!  Right now, Emmalin is on 7 different types of medications and vitamins.  Her seizure medications make up 4 of of that 7.  Plus, we also have to make many visits to St. Louis (which is 4 hours away - one way) for doctors visits.  There are also expensive therapy cost and Emmalin is starting to need some special equipment (like standers, wheelchairs and many other things).  Plus she also has food expenses.  I know that you are probably wondering why I am listing food as an expensive cost because every child needs to eat, but Emmalin's main source of food is still a liquid, so it can get pretty expensive to find something for her age that will give her all of the nutrients that she needs.  Going through Emmalin's journey so far, we have found that when we have been told that something is "special" it has always also meant that it is going to cost a lot of money!

Emmalin in her new stander.

My sister, Jessica, had been wanting to put together a benefit for Emmalin to help with all of the expenses for a very long time, but Jarrad and I were too proud.  The way we looked at it was that Emmalin is our child and it is our responsibility to provide for her.   When Emmalin got her diagnosis and we realized that all of these costs were going to be a permanent thing.  Jarrad and I got to thinking about all of the things that she is going to be needing in the future and how expensive everything is going to be,  so we finally decided to swallow our pride said okay to Jessica.  We also decided to try for, Medicaid, as a secondary insurance, and a couple of other financial assistance programs for disabled and visually impaired kids.  We were denied for all of them.


Emmalin will be having her first benefit October 2nd, 2010 (I have posted more details about it on the right side of the page).  We feel so lucky and blessed that everyone involved with the benefit has been so gracious and amazing!  THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts to everyone that is helping with it!  You will never know how much Jarrad and I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to help us!  

Red is her favorite color!

Jarrad and I also have an amazing friend named Todd who has offered to help Jessica set up more benefits in the future.  Together, Jessica and Todd are working on several more benefits for 2011 and possibly one more in 2010.  I will keep you posted as I get more details!

I have to admit that sometimes if I sit down and really start to think about this journey, first of all I have to say that I feel very blessed to have such a wonderful husband and amazing little girl.  But thinking about all of the obstacles that we have overcome and  having just a small idea of everything that we have ahead of us, it can become very overwhelming if I think about it all for too long!  That's when I just have to step back and remind myself that God has it all under control and that it's all going to work out the way it's supposed to.  I have a hard time remembering that sometimes.  


God is good!