The Gifts We Bring

Rex playing with Ty and Elise. The daily radiation treatment for his brain tumor caused his hair to fall out everywhere but the lower back of his head. I couldn't shave his head often enough to keep it looking normal. The steroids he took caused  weight gain that he hated because it made it hard for him to get down to play with the kids.  Poor guy.

When my brother came to live with my family, there was already so much going on that had nothing to do with him. Rob and I were in a legal battle with the school district to get special education services for our 3 kids, Rob was commuting in rush hour traffic 3 hours each way to work. Our kids health challenges kept me on the frequent flyer plan at our local ER and I was devoting myself to getting an education in possibly the world's most complicated, convoluted and controversial health care modality ever invented. Throwing Rex and his brain tumor on top of all that was an impossible challenge. Just the day-to-day grind of survival was overwhelming.

 

I wish I could say I handled it with faith and grace. I didn't. I was crabby, exhausted and on the verge of tears pretty much all the time. I did what needed to be done because I had no option, but I complained loudly enough that everyone knew major sacrifices were being made.

 

My brother tried to ease my burden. He could see very plainly that I wasn't handling things well. The main thing he did was play with my kids. Their sibling bickering was greatly reduced because he kept them occupied while I rushed around working on my endless to-do list. I have fond memories of afternoons like the one in the photo above. Since Rex was childlike himself, he knew what kids liked to do and he did it, even when the radiation treatments gave him headaches and made him nauseous. Every kid has the need to play and no adult played better than my brother.

 

Rex brought other gifts to our house that I wrote about in the book. What started out seeming like gasoline poured on an already raging inferno, ended up being exactly the opposite. Rex was the fire extinguisher that smothered the flames, stopping the heat that was consuming our family.


 Rob and I were permanently changed by having Rex in our lives and we will be forever grateful that we followed the promptings from God to bring him home. Instead of being another burden to carry, my brother gave us the wings to set us free.