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My booklet called “My KellyFile” is named
after my severely handicapped, 27 year old
daughter, Kelly. She is non-verbal and
unable to advocate for herself. Kelly is
retarded, autistic and medically fragile
with the mental age of a 18 month old child. She is my “earth angel” and I
love her now as much as the first day I
held her, December 27, 1982, 11:06 A.M. I
recall a nurse suggesting that Kelly was
looking at angels; now that I know her, I
realize that she probably was.
You might say that Kelly changed my life,
kicked me in the gut, slammed me down
flat, twisted things sideways, breaking my
heart so many times that for a few years I
became a cardboard person. She got my
brain so exhausted and shouting that I
stopped sleeping soundly; but somehow I
continued to teach and function as a
single mother of two children: Kelly and
her younger brother, Tommy. Of course I
couldn’t have done this without the
generous support of my parents and sister,
Susan.
Throughout our years of triumphs and
battles one of the worst struggles
occurred two years ago at a prestigious
Sacramento teaching hospital. If I had not
spent every night with Kelly, I don’t
believe that she would be alive today. I
have constructed this medical booklet so
that your experiences will be different
than Kelly’s and mine. Undue stress and
agitation must be limited, especially for
individuals like my daughter who can’t
advocate for themselves.
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