Out of the Ordinary
A mother's reflection of her emotions on raising a disabled child.
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I was in the recovery room of the hospital, and I could see the face of my doctor peering in through the open space of the door. I was still lying down flat after having a C section and my husband moved close to me at head level. He said, “The Lord has blessed us with a beautiful baby down syndrome girl.” I responded foggily, “It is Gods will.” They wheeled me upstairs to my hospital room after giving birth and I received a phone call from my sister. She told me that our mother had terminal pancreatic cancer and had only months to live. I lay in the bed exhausted and devastated at the same time. I could not even think.
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About the Book
When you have a child who is disabled you step into a world of unknowns.
When Cathy Tanner’s daughter was younger, she seemed to fit in with peers even though she had down syndrome. There did not seem to be a large cognitive gap between her and other children, and the author began to think that she’d easily navigate having a mentally disabled child.
But as time marched on things began to change. She saw the gap between her daughter’s abilities and those of other children widened. The author struggled to find ways to help her daughter socialize with others so that she would not feel isolated as well as working through her own emotional struggles in raising her.
Through the years of parenting her daughter the author saw God’s providence to provide in multitudes of situations for the author’s emotional well being as well as her daughter’s continued needs.
Join the author as she looks back on raising a daughter with down syndrome and how keeping an open mind and heart while looking to God, has helped her find her way forward.
About the Author
Cathy Tanner has a heart for parents who are walking the journey of raising a disabled child. She earned a master’s degree in guidance and counseling and a Bachelor of Science in exercise science from Samford University. She taught in higher education for over forty years. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama and has been married for forty-two years to her husband, Curtis. She has three children, one of whom has Down Syndrome.