Nathaniel :: Child with Spina Bifida

Nathaniel is 11 years old, and was born with Spina Bifida.


I found out at my 16 week ultrasound about the Spina Bifida. Eleven years ago I began I journey that I was TERRIFIED of. Mostly I was terrified because no one had given me any HOPE that my baby would have a good life.

Nathaniel, June 30, 2000: 2 days old
But you know what? They were ALL wrong!

As scared as I was of Spina Bifida, I have since learned it's just a different way of life.

Nathaniel on his first birthday, just hours out of major surgery
But it is still life at its fullest!

Nathaniel, ~18 months old
Little did I know eleven years ago today what an AMAZING child Nathaniel would be.

Take That! Walking on the beach at 3.5 with NO walker. He had JUST graduated from the walker.
Little did I know that he would teach me far more than I could EVER teach him!

The little guy I was told over and over again would not walk.... playing soccer in all of his glory!

Nat doing his FAVORITE thing... surfing! Summer 2011

Many would say that our life is hard. I would counter that we all have a journey that we are on, and many of those journeys are hard, ours is no different. I will be the first to admit that we deal with a LOT, but there is never a promise that we won't deal with a lot in this life. I feel blessed to be dealing with it for such an amazing child!

Nathaniel has had to deal with many things throughout his life that I wouldn't have wished on him, yet each time we go through something we ALL grow stronger and learn from it. Nathaniel is a INTEGRAL part of our family and we love him for being him!

To us, Spina Bifida is a part of our life, but there is SO MUCH MORE to our life than just Spina Bifida! We live for love, for joy and for family, just like anyone else!

Read more about Nathaniel on his family blog: Simply Soares

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Thank you for sharing Nathaniel's story with us Gretchen! We still need stories, please ADD YOURS!