I’m Glad Michael Jackson was right! What do I mean? In 1995, he released the song, You Are Not Alone and whew, that song speaks to me.

The song came back to my remembrance yesterday, because Super Mighty Max is currently under the weather. He’s had a high fever, coupled with sad faces, throwing up, and intense crying. Yesterday morning, when he woke up crying, I was preparing myself for a long day, but thank God for Momma B and Mi-Mi (my mother-in-love and SMM’s Grandmother) for deciding to stay home and give me a helping hand.

I’m sure, like my wife and I have experienced, there are thousands of parents with special needs children, who are grateful for ALL THE HELP they can get with their super, mighty, and blessed children. Which is why Michael Jackson’s song rings so true for me, and for many others, because sometimes you feel that your on this journey alone, but we’re not! Yesterday reminded me, that a lot of us do have help with rearing and raising children with special needs and disabilities, and we should be glad.

Here are the 5 reasons that every parent who has children with special needs and disabilities should be glad, “You Are Not Alone.” 

1. Resources, Resources, Resources- I could not begin to imagine if we had to find every therapist, schedule every single doctor’s appointment, find our own medical supplies and equipment, drop-off every single medication prescription, and everything else that comes along with raising our super, mighty, and blessed children.
2. Health Insurance- With the rising costs of medical related expenses, we’d be broke 100x over if we had to pay for everything out of pocket. Thank God for health insurance!!! While, we still have tons of medical bills, totaling thousands of dollars, I’m grateful for health insurance. It helps us to get the medicines, therapies, doctor’s appointments, surgeries, and equipment. Prayerfully, we’ll be approved for more financial assistance with Super Mighty Max’s new diagnosis.
3. Opportunity to for Self-Care- Parenting a special needs child is hard enough, but I grief for mothers and fathers who have no help along this journey. I’ve found out, that self-care is so important. When you’re constantly taking care of another’s needs, receiving the constant bad news, and visiting doctors; naturally, one will be drained and exhausted. Therefore, I’m glad that I have folk who can offer relief for self-care.
4. The Village- As I stated above, Super Mighty Max has the best village that any child can ask for. He has loving great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, daycare providers, church members, surrogate family, and social media family who love and care for him dearly. They pray for him, babysit him, help provide for him, encourage him, root for him, and countless other intangible things. Like my wife and I, there other parents just like us who are thankful for their village.
5. My Wife– I’m blessed, honored, lucky, overjoyed, and privileged to have a wife to share this journey with. Together, we share our hopes and our hurts, and together we raise our son. It’s not always easy, but we didn’t expect it to be. I believe it takes two to raise a totally healthy child and I firmly believe it takes two to raise a child with special needs and disabilities.

I’m Glad, that I’m NOT Alone,

Brandon