Spotlight on Hope: Blessed by Micah's Life

submitted by Ashley Hendrickson, mom to Micah (living with PWS)

By the grace of God, Micah has been doing very well, and we wanted to share our story with hope in encouraging others:

Like so many others, our story begins at birth. He had all the tell-tale signs from low muscle tone, poor feeding, and blonde hair. By the grace of God, we were able to get his genetic testing done right away and roughly 3 days after he was born, he was officially diagnosed with Prader-Willi Syndrome. We gave a lot of power to what the doctors were telling us and how our life would now go. We took all their direction and guidance, hoping this would ease the pain of now raising a child with a disability. Ironically, before we were even discharged from the hospital, we heard from one of the nurses of a specific doctor in Florida who specializes with kids impacted by PWS… Dr. Jennifer Miller. We were able to chat with her via phone and were also able to connect with other families in our state impacted by PWS. Slowly but surely life felt more settled, and we started to find our own unique rhythm that worked for us and our family.

So much life has happened since Micah’s birth. He has had to have 6 surgeries all before age 10; including bi-lateral hip surgery and spinal fusion. But it has not stopped the Lord from working in his life. Micah is not just surviving, he is thriving! He is happy, healthy, and ready to go after life. In God’s kindness, he is not hungry. We have never counted calories, rather we focus on a more low carb and high-quality diet. We prioritize organic, grass fed, wild caught and pasture raised foods. We cook all his meals and we only do treats for birthdays and certain holidays. We still celebrate other holidays, but we choose to not celebrate with food. We know movement is key, he is very low tone, but he walks and swims very regularly and we just recently are now starting him at a gym to work on resistance training. We have had the honor to home school Micah, this means we can go at his pace and we can make healthy lunches in a calm environment.

At this point in his life, he has not needed any medication for behavior issues. We still see OCD tendencies, but we continue to work on that with healthy lifestyle habits and bringing him up in a family of faith. Teaching him how God never makes any mistakes and how Micah was made with a purpose. Along with swimming, Micah’s other hobbies are fishing, Legos, and drawing. He has an art therapist who comes out twice a month and she has been so thrilled and surprised to see how well Micah can focus and complete his work. Now, all days are not easy. Just like any other family we all have our days. But, we felt the desire to share his story, because his life is nothing like what the early doctors said it would be. We are truly blessed by Micah’s life. He is an amazing son and a wonderful big brother. We still have so much to learn, we never know where life will take us, but we hope with this snapshot of our little life, it blesses your day! The Hendrickson family from MN

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