I WANT TO BE WARM
by Dr. Patricia Horsham
BORN IN THE EAST AND WENT WEST 7000miles away
TO BE A LOVING DAUGHTER in an American family
In MY SHORT LIFE – How did I end up handicapped
but still very,very happy for my short life ! !!!!
THIS IS MY ADVENTURE
My first day on earth was a cold lonely day but I was determined to hold on and not give in to the coldness of death waiting to claim my little body. Eighteen hours later some one saved me, bathe me in warm water and finally I began to feel the warm of human contact.
Was I born at the wrong time?
YES – against the law (banning second children) ! –There must be a reason why I am still alive. But I had to travel seven thousand miles from East to West to get the warmth and love of my adopted family this kept me alive for seven more years. I had a wonderful very short life in the West.
Was my survival because I had a purpose for living!
I narrowly escaped abandonment and death but I was born with luck and a determined spirit. I experienced all the WARMTH of LOVE from my adopted family in a country where 6 months of the year the temperature was always freezing cold.
Handicapped!!! a minor one but still I was their Cute China doll
The first 24 hours of my cold life caused very minor damage leaving me with a minor unsteady walking which was slowly corrected itself. Then the first 3 years of my life is a blur spent in Government homes for orphaned children. My real interesting life began at age of 3 years when I travelled seven thousand miles to my new family in the west.
Somebody wanted me as their baby girl
My adventure was born out of the need for a daughter by a well placed family from a foreign country. So I began my adventure when my new family chose me after spending a few months in my birth country when they were ready to go back home in the west.
A large beautiful Home and a sister in my new home country
My first surprise was a new beautiful home with lots of land, water and snow. It was very cold. My second surprise was two brothers and a new sister who was the same age as myself – great having a playmate. We spoke different languages but love and innocence of childhood created our own language.
Ice Skating – Great!!
I settled into my new home and I longed to become a full citizen so I started learning Ice Skating. I saw the beauty of it when my new brothers played in a local team and won and all people in my new town skated on ice anywhere. My mom bought me skates and a special tripod with wheels for support so that I can learn to ice skate as quickly as possible. Of course I fell down lots but my determination pushed me to succeed. I had lots of fun and learned quickly. I was surprised that with all the activity and fun of skating I did not feel cold anymore.
Trouble in my Paradise
My world came crashing down during my first winter when I ended up with a severe head injury that resulted in paralysis on one half of my body and unable to walk . it was one of thre warm winter days in the middle of February when my fall changed my life forever. My sister and I were playing on the balcony when I fell.
I fell off the balcony onto the hard snowy mountain and had a bad head injury
I was very dazed and hours later became unconscious. Before losing consciousness I felt cold and tired. At first my mother looked on the computer to find out about how to warm me since I looked pale and cold. My mother did not know where I fell or how high since she did not see me fall and only found me when I crawled out from beneath the balcony and walked to her open arms.
Many hours after my fall
I continued feeling cold and my mother continued to warm me with blankets but I was not waking up. She then called the ambulance to take me to the hospital and there she found out that I was bleeding inside my head due to the fall. One day later I had to have surgery to remove a blood clot from my brain to allow my injured brain to heal.
Finally, I had permanent brain damage
But the final effect was going to be less as I grew older and the brain repaired itself. may be???? – After the surgery I had a long period away from home at a special place to get special treatment to get me walking again. I was unable to move one side of my body when I wanted to so I had to have lots of exercise and therapy for years.
Fighting To Keep Me
My mom and dad fought to keep me because the Social services wanted to take me away and put me in a foster home. All of my family were devastated by my injury and they fought against the Social services who wanted to take me away from them. These actions were began because the doctors in the hospital thought that my injuries were too severe to be caused by a fall in the snow. They questioned the length of time before mom called the ambulance asking why the delay.
Their daughter for ever
I am very glad that my family did not give me up after all this was the time that I needed all the love they had to give. They were the only family that I had in this strange land. I was their daughter for ever. I grew closer to my adopter family especially my sister who loved and spoilt me. They visited me almost daily and showered me with gifts on my birthday and Xmas.
I enjoyed the best of health despite my physical disability
But the love and attention of my family made me very happy. I was looking forward to the day that they will discharge me to go home but my family had to make changes to the home to make it easier to move around because of my weakness on one side of my body.
Unfortunately before sending me home
They discovered that I had a problem with my blood clotting and could not find the cause. The staff and my family noted a blue color deep down in my skin slowly forming and rising up to the surface of my legs without any cause. I did not fall or had any other injuries. Thus the doctors had to find out why this was happening and since I had no blood relatives to question my family was eager to find out the cause. I had to be transferred to a university center for investigation of this bruising.
Flying out on a large plane was very exciting
This took me to a University one thousand miles away to see some specialists to investigate my bruising problem. After many doctors came to see I heard them saying that I had this rare bruising condition inherited from my Eastern family.