Lion and Magic Boy

I just found out that a little girl who’s part of our Waldorf school community is in a coma. She somehow got into her grandmother’s medication over the weekend; no one knows the whole story. But the fact is, she’s hooked up to life support and in a coma. Her parents may never see her again any other way.

The thing is, Morgan has Down syndrome. And she’s about two months older than Eric; her fourth birthday is in September. When he was younger I used to match his development to hers: she wasn’t as frail and fragile as he was in the early months but things evened out after she had pneumonia two winters ago, and while he grew stronger she stayed about the same. She began walking not that much before he did. And her personality has always been similar to his: willful and mischievous. The child in a coma could just as easily be my child.

I don’t really know what to say about any of this. I don’t think there is anything I can say. But if nothing else, this brings home the need for even more vigilance with watching Eric and making sure he doesn’t have access to things that may hurt him. He doesn’t possess the presence of mind in terms of his own safety that his older brother and sisters did. And even more, it brings forth a terrible reminder of the awful fragility of life: one moment a child is laughing, and in the next life as you know it is forever changed.

[tags]down syndrome, coma, tragedy[/tags]