South Carolinians, Help the Disabled in our State

I'm writing today to ask my readers who are from South Carolina  to help my Noah and disabled children and adults like him. Currently in our state of South Carolina, when a child with moderate to severe developmental disabilities (In case you are curious, Noah's state diagnosis is moderate developmental disabilities.) becomes an adult there are a few options. They can go into a residential facility where they would receive all their care. They can go into a day program where they'd receive care (sort of similar to adult day care) or they can go into a day work type program where they receive care and then often do some type of very easy job such as sorting products or something similar to that. (This is a very basic explanation of the services and how they were explained to me recently. For the record, Noah’s IEP goals are working him towards the day work program.) 


The House, Ways, and Means Committee is proposing a 28% budget cut in the State budget for the South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs. These proposed budget cuts would take away these programs leaving nothing for the adults currently receiving services from these programs and nothing for Noah and children like him when they reach adulthood. Without these services many parents of adults and children with special needs would have no option as to how their children would be cared for during the day which means some of these parents would be unable to work. Also, these adults and children with be losing a healthy, stable, and safe environment that provides them with care, satisfaction, and stimulation. I know as a parent, it would be hard for me to personally provide Noah the type of experience obtained through a day program and that experience would be a total one eighty versus the experience he would have staying at home all day as an adult. Sure, I’d come up with some things for him to do but it wouldn’t be the same at all. 

Let’s break it down even more………
Some facts about what the proposed budget cuts mean:|

• This equates to a $47 million dollar reduction. 
• The Loss in Medicaid Funding will be over $110 million. 
• 157 Million dollars worth of services will be cut. 
• All services but residential services will be eliminated in the state. 
• 25,700 individuals and families will lose services in the state.
• 3,100 jobs will be lost throughout the state. 

The South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs has taken the largest cut of any state agency. The most vulnerable part of the state population is being asked to take a disproportionate amount of the cuts in the state.


As you can tell from reading those facts, these cuts will have a profound impact on services for individuals with developmental disabilities. So, I’m asking my fellow South Carolinians to please contact your legislator and let them know the determent these cuts will cause to the adults and children in the Special Needs community. 


Does the thought of calling up a legislator’s office intimidate you? Don’t worry – it did intimidate me initially as well. Check out this link to some tips for calling your legislator. 


So, how do you know who your Legislators are? Check out this link to find your Legislators using your zip code. 


So, please, take 5 minutes and make this call. You’ll be helping many!

The Story of a 9/11 Hero

On today, the anniversary of the terrorists' attacks against our nation, I find myself thinking of Tom Burnett. Does that name sound familiar to you? If you watched any of the non stop news coverage following the terrorists’ attacks on September 11, 2001, you've probably heard his name.

In the days and months to follow the attacks, Tom Burnett was named one of the heroes aboard Untied Flight 93. You may remember that passengers overtook Flight 93 and caused it to land in a field in Pennsylvania. Tom Burnett, who grew up a Minnesotan, was flying home to California from a business trip to New York and is said to be the leader of the attack on the cockpit that caused the plane to divert its path and crash in a field instead of its target. Tom called his wife Deena multiple times from the plane telling her what was going on and that he loved her and the three daughters they were raising.

So, you are probably thinking, “Ok, I know all this already…”

But, did you know Tom Burnett was a birthfather?

While in college, Tom Burnett’s then girlfriend became pregnant in an unplanned pregnancy. The two were opposed to abortion and initially wanted to get married and parent. Tom was very involved in the pregnancy, working two jobs to pay for medical bills and present for his daughter’s birth. Eventually, the two decided it would be best for the baby if she was placed for adoption.

Two years after the terrorist attacks, Mariah Mills, turned nineteen and was finally old enough to request her original birth certificate from the state. The name Tom Burnett was very familiar in her area and she quickly realized that her birthfather was one of the 9/11 hereos.

Unsure of what Tom’s wife, Deena, and the rest of his family knew about the adoption and how they would feel about this, Mariah’s mother sent word through the agency that had handled Mariah’s adoption that Mariah was interested in meeting her other birth relatives. It turns out that Tom had told his wife about the daughter he placed for adoption and even showed her a letter that he had been writing to Mariah over the years in the hopes that they would one day be reunited.

Mariah has ended up meeting most of her birth family, including Deena, Tom’s daughters, parents, and sisters. She has been welcomed in by most of them. She has ongoing relationships with her half sisters and Deena. She has gotten to know the type of man and father Tom Burnett was through his family and Deena was even able to give her a letter that Tom had started writing to Mariah when she was younger for the day they would be reunited.

Granted I'm sure Tom Burnett was not the only birth parent to die on September 11th, I'm sure that others were triad members as well, but he is one that we know of.

I'll end with a quote out of a newspaper article by Tom's daughter, Maraiah, “Even if he’d never been on that plane on September 11th, he’d still be a hero to me. He gave me life and a chance with a wonderful family.”

An “All Star” with CP

On Tuesday night, we were all watching the beginning of the All Star game. Before the game started, the announcers announced that People Magazine and the MLB had teamed up and were honoring and recognizing thirty people (out of thousands across the nation) as “All Stars Among Us.” One person representing each team and each person being honored somehow makes a difference in the lives of others in his or her community. 

We got excited when we noticed that one of the “All Star People” being featured was in a wheelchair. We listened and watched as we learned a little bit more about this special boy. Tears filled my eyes as I learned that this seventeen year old young man named Gary Lynn,  who was in a wheelchair and in many ways resembled my Noah, had cerebral palsy and had started a foundation of his very own to raise money for research and education for cerebral palsy. Gary is from Houston, Texas and was representing the Houston Astro’s. He’s raised over $12,000 for CP research to date. 

When Noah first saw Gary in his wheelchair, he got excited, as he often does when he sees people in wheelchairs. He identifies with them and I think he automatically feels a sense of kinship with them. It’s something big that connects them. So, he did get excited when he first noticed the wheelchair. Once J and I figured out what it was all about, J pressed paused and we stopped for a minute to explain to Noah. I wanted to be sure that he understood that the people that were walking (or wheeling in Gary’s case) onto the field were being honored. I wanted to be sure that he understood Gary had cerebral palsy too. I knew it was a good teaching moment, an opportunity to show Noah that nothing, not even cerebral palsy, can stop or define him.  It was a good moment, very neat to watch and I felt so proud of a young man I don’t even know. Be sure and check out The Gary Lynn Foundation.