I’ve read this father/son story before. It’s incredible. Thank you for sharing that with us. What makes this an amazing story is the selflessness of this father. He gave his son the chance to feel the breeze on his face. To say I can and I did. This puts me in a place where I am self assesing my relationship to my Father. The sacrifices that he makes, the times where he is swimming and pulling me along as I sit and just enjoy the view. The kind of love that this father has for his son is a glimpse of the kind of love He has for me, for each of us. This father went above and beyond, when others said “no way”, he continued to find a way. That’s what Our Father does for us. We say no way and give up and He says “Yes you can, I’ll take you there”.

Lori - I would love to have coffee. Where are you living now? When are you available?

Deana - I thought this would give you a kind of hope far beyond what any of us experienced. You were on my mind as I watched the video. I LOVE the way you love Max. Your love carries Max (figuratively and literally) like the father in this story carries his son … Deana, you inspire me!

I saw your heading, read the first little bit of this and stopped. Yesterday I didn’t want to get in that place. But when rachel told me to come read it I thought I’d give it a go today.

I read it…their story is a sweet story…but that wasn’t what made me cry.

Sitting in a “care-conference” with all of Max’s doctors two years ago they were asking us if we wanted to go through with a surgery to extend his life, but forever handicap him with a vent and tube to breathe, or take him off the vent and let nature take it’s course. This was an insult to us.

Steve said to the doctors in that room, “We not only want our son to get better, and be able to breathe on his own, we want him to be well enough to walk…no we want him to run marathons!”. This of course made the doctors pause. These poor naive parents they must think. The next day Max coughed the breathing tube he had been on for a month out. he has breathed perfectly on his own ever since.

Some days it seems that the marathons will never come…somedays it seems the crawling will never come. So the tears I get from this video aren’t for this father and son duo…but rather for the hope I get watching it. Even if Max never walks or runs…he can still accomplish much…even if it is through the help of his parents.

Thank you for sharing…thank you for helping me see that hope today.

Thanks Tina