We never really know when our time will come to leave this earth, this life, everything we know.
We never really know when the time will be for our loved ones to depart.
There have been, however, several families this week in the SMA Community who have prepared for the loss of their child.
How does one prepare for that?
Spinal Muscular Atrophy strikes its victim unknowingly. It creeps up on the very young and brings parents to a place unimaginable.
It throws situations at families that threaten to dissolve the fabric of their lives.
SMA grabs hold of daily interactions, holding them prisoner in its grip.
This disease is relentless.
Four children within the past week and a half have died and one more is on her deathbed as this is being written.
A child's deathbed. An image that is disturbing to us all.
A sigh fills my chest as I contemplate the reality of SMA, a thought that I'd rather not have to face. It thrusts itself in front of me though...thrusts itself in front of us each and every time a child's life is taken by the disease.
We pray for a cure. We search for hope. We fall victim to the emotion that fills our world. We seek to hold our kids closer and closer every day in attempts to protect them from their ill-fate.
The families who have recently lost their babies and the ones that are on the verge of their life collapsing with the inevitable passing of their precious children are in our hearts. May your children, now delivered from the grips of SMA be set free by the grace and love of their creator. May you find the strength to carry on in this world as you wait for the next to re-unite with your sweethearts.
May there be a cure for SMA.
