Caring for an adult child can be challenging. You may even question at times. One may have envisioned that it would be their child caring for them and not them caring for their adult child. However, when you walk in the purpose and plan that God has for your life the blessing just keep flowing. Blessings can come from your family, friends, co-worker and healthcare providers. Ultimately, it is the smile on your child’s face that is the greatest blessing of all because they know that they are loved. Letha Davis is from Newport News, VA and a 2017 Leon David Simmons Awardee. She is a mother, a wife, an employee, a blessing and a Family Caregiver. .
As an advocate for my 30 year old daughter, Leea I have learned that you really need to pay close attention to every detail being said and written during doctor’s visits and other appointments. It was while reading records that we found out at the age of 2 that Leea had Cerebral Palsy. It was not verbally said to us until we confronted the doctors about their notes that were between each of them in Leea’s records. MAKE SURE YOU KEEP RECORDS!
My love of scrapbooking lead me to create Leea’s medical file which we have available for all new doctors’ appointments. My biggest challenges were sitting and waiting during Leea’s 16 plus surgeries and procedures and having to go to work and leave her in the hands of someone else. I don’t see having spent my whole adult life taking care of my special needs daughter as a chore or a burden. It just comes natural because I KNOW I was put here on earth to take care of her; to make her life as happy and as fulfilling as possible. I could not be as successful with fulfilling my duty as Leea’s mommy without the wonderful support system that I have. My motto in life is “Nothing can happen to me today that God and I cannot handle together...” So with that said, God is my #1 help in taking care of Leea; my bosses at my job who over the past 16 years have allowed me to have all the time I need to take care of her, including the 1 month stay in the hospital, and allows her to come to “work” in the office with me whenever necessary; Leea’s companion aide who is with Leea 6 hours a day while I am at work, and of course Leea’s dad, my mom, sisters and my church family all contribute to the strength that I have to care for her.
Do you know a Family Caregiver caring for an adult child?
