It breaks my heart to admit that Jackson’s life has never been easy. Four years ago, our perfect little bundle of joy endured a parents worse nightmare. He suffered from a perinatal stroke sometime within the womb. He has severe left sided weakness in his arm and speech delay. We have come leaps and bounds over the last four years, and despite the uphill trek that we are still on, the journey has been so rewarding.

He doesn’t know that his life is any different from others. To watch him is truly incredible. He is energetic, determined, wild, stubborn, and more than anything…happy.

Jackson’s personality is huge, and his heart is even bigger. He is the perfect addition to our chaos (if not the culprit of it all) and to watch him overcome daily tasks with such grit will never cease to amaze me. He is an inspiration to so many.

In 2022, the journey felt isolating. It felt as though he was the only baby on the planet going through this. Obviously, I knew that was not true so I began digging deeper into perinatal strokes. I researched support groups, read about adults who had pediatric strokes and were living wonderful lives, and I began to see hope. I learned that there were many other survivors, who are referred to as warriors. Such a fitting name.

I found a community who knew exactly how I felt.

If it weren’t for this community, I would have never learned about an intensive therapy study for perinatal stroke survivors. If we hadn’t participated in the study, I wouldn’t have discovered my outlet for online journaling, and I would not be here sharing our story in hopes to encourage others.

So, whether you are a parent looking for hope as you raise a child with disabilities, family wanting to keep up with Jackson’s recovery, or just simply enjoy learning from Jackson on how to find the joy in things no matter how difficult times can be, I pray that whoever you are, this story brings you exactly what you need.