In the Swing of Things!

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible."  Walt Disney

Today I saw something that yesterday I'd have said was impossible. . . my little boy on the swing at the park.

Noah has never once done this and I had no reason to think he ever could.  He would go in an infant swing as a newborn, but from six months old he started spending the majority of his time in hospitals.  He wouldn't swing as a toddler because he was always hurting/tired/scared of the outdoors.  After he went into DIC at the age of three he developed balance issues/vertigo and simply couldn't go int a swing without full-blown panic.  At five he got so much sicker and our visits to the park became very few and far between.   (Sound familiar?  It's the same timeline that's kept him from ever riding a bike!)

We've been to the park quite a few times in the last year or so since he got his power wheelchair, but he's never wanted to go in the swings - not even the special adaptive swing.  I'd filed swinging away as one of those things that just wasn't in Noah's future . . . until today.  We took a picnic to the park, went on a nice long walk, and then Noah was cruising around while his siblings played on the equipment.  He stopped and wistfully watched the other kids swinging and then timidly asked if I thought HE could swing too!  Nurse Ty and I called in reinforcements since neither of us are big enough to lift Noah - fortunately Jeff was there.  He may have thought we were completely insane was a little worried about Noah swinging with 5 I.V. pumps and two drains, but I convinced him to at least try.

 Nurse Ty keeping a safe grip on all of those I.V. lines

It took much longer to get Noah into the swing than it took for Noah to decide that he'd had enough.  He sat there - not swinging, but bravely sitting - about long enough for me to snap the above pictures then called it quits.  Jeff said I told you so cheerfully maneuvered Noah back into the wheelchair, and that is when the magic happened.

It was an every day miracle called sibling rivalry.

Just as Noah got OUT of the swing, Miss Mary Faith decided to get IN the swing.  When Noah saw how much fun she was having getting kissed by Daddy and tickled by Mommy, he decided to intervene.  

At first he thought it would be fun enough just to push Mary Faith on the swings.

I was smiling ear to ear just seeing the fun they were having . . . then after about ten minutes, Noah decided he wanted to get back into the "big swing" and "weally, weally swing this time."   Jeff and Ty and I got him back into the swing, and this time He Did It.  He sat there for a little while pale as a ghost and saying he was dizzy, but refusing offers to take him out of the swing.  After a bit, he asked me to push him "just a wittle bit."  I was sure that would be the end of it, but after the first tiny push lost momentum, he asked for more pushes . . . and more pushes . . . and more!  Soon he was fussing if I pushed Mary Faith too many times without pushing him, then before we knew it he was using his feet to push against his wheelchair to keep his momentum going!

 This is the only shot I got of the two of them swinging together - their royal hignesses didn't think I needed to stop pushing to do silly things like take photos LOL.  See our wonderful bus in the background?  Hugs and thanks again to everyone who made that bus possible!!!

Jake stayed on duty right behind Noah watching the whole time.  Those two are a match made in heaven - I'm not sure who loves whom more!!

It was beyond amazing.  Noah played on that swing for a solid half hour.  At one point he tipped his head back to look at me and told me he wished we could do this forever.  Me too, Buddy, me too.  We stayed just as long as we could, but we couldn't ignore the fact that he had zillions of meds due at 3PM so we finally had to leave.  This was one of the best afternoons of my life.

In other "impossible" news, Noah has 7,166 votes in the bike contest at https://www.friendshipcircle.org/bikes/2014/03/noah-5/?s !!!!  He is now solidly in 3rd place!!  The first place contestant has 8,500 so he is really starting to close in!  (If you haven't read about the bike contest, look at the post I wrote a couple of days ago here http://www.prayingfornoah.com/2014/03/the-very-longest-shot.html) When I wrote that post I didn't think it was possible for Noah to get 3,000 votes but people have been incredible about sharing and getting the word out!

Fox Carolina called me yesterday afternoon and asked if they could come out and do a piece on Noah and the bike contest..  You can see the video here: http://www.foxcarolina.com/story/24982629/young-greenwood-boy-fighting-disease-asks-for-help-winning-a-special-needs-bike .

Even though Noah is in 3rd place now, we really need to keep working at getting those votes coming in steadily.  The other top contestants are also getting a lot of votes a day and with ten more days in the contest, anything could happen.  Please share this on FB, in emails, at work, with your friends at church tomorrow, etc.  Feel free to share the link to the Fox video as well as the link to the contest! You are also alwyas welcome to link to this blog. We appreciate your help more than we can say.  

A week ago I'd have said that Noah would never go on a swing and never ride a bike.  He proved me wrong on one of those today and you guys are coming awfully close to proving me wrong on the other one!  We can never thank you enough!!

Blessings,

Kate

Even though Noah is closing