{"id":337,"date":"2010-08-18T13:21:12","date_gmt":"2010-08-18T13:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2010\/08\/perfectly-human-my-brother-john-by-george-ferguson.html"},"modified":"2010-08-18T13:21:12","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T13:21:12","slug":"perfectly-human-my-brother-john-by-george-ferguson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/08\/perfectly-human-my-brother-john-by-george-ferguson.html","title":{"rendered":"Perfectly Human**: My Brother John by George Ferguson"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"george<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

My name is George, and I am 11
\nyears old. I’ve always wanted a brother, and prayed a lot to God for a little
\nbrother to play with. It took awhile for that prayer to be answered. He did
\ngive me a brother, but I didn’t expect that He would give me a brother that has
\na disability…and neither did my mom or dad. My little brother John is 3 and he
\nhas cerebral palsy.<\/p>\n

John was born earlier than we
\nexpected. It was a sunny day when I went to see my brother for the very first
\ntime at the hospital after he was born. I was excited to see him, but first I
\nwent to see my mom, then I went to the cafeteria to eat lunch with dad.
\nAfterwards, we went to see John in the ‘Special Care Unit’ for babies. I had to
\nwear a special gown and wash my hands before I went to see him. I had to do
\nthis every time I went to see him in the Special Care Unit.  <\/span><\/p>\n

John was tiny, and had patches
\non his chest and wires to monitor his heartbeats and breathing. He was born at
\n3 pounds and 11 ounces. I thought he was funny because he seemed to want to
\ntouch my nose and grab my pinky finger when I stood next to him. Later, when I
\nwent to see him at the hospital, he had an eye mask on and was under some
\nblue-ish lights so he could sleep better. They said he had jaundice.  <\/span><\/p>\n

When John came home five weeks
\nlater, I couldn’t play with him as I imagined I would. He was hooked up to a
\nmonitor that checked his heartbeats and breathing. He mostly just slept, ate,
\ncried and spit up a lot. The spit up was actually something called reflux which
\nlasted over one year after he was born. It was messy. He even had to go back to
\nthe hospital for nearly a week again because of it. John also had some fluid on
\nhis brain which was called hydrocephalus. My parents had to take John to a lot
\nof doctor appointments. Sometimes I would go with my brother, too.<\/p>\n

Lots of people call John
\ndetermined and motivated. He wants to do so many things that I can do, but he
\ncan’t yet. He also likes to go upside down and get spun around, and likes to go
\nfast. John likes to play with cars, trucks, boats, trains and airplanes. He
\nreally likes airplanes, and could point them out by looking at them way high in
\nthe sky when he was very little. When the doctors would ask my mom and dad if
\nJohn had any vision problems, my mom would always mention this. My mom says
\nthat I am a big influence on my little brother because he likes to copy
\neverything I do. If I say something, he will try to say it too. If I go to
\nhockey practice, he wants to come too. If I am eating macaroni and cheese (my
\nfavorite meal), he wants to have it too. If I get silly, he wants more! We play
\n‘uh-oh’ together. When I do something really silly, he says ‘uh-oh’ and we
\nlaugh. Then, he says ‘more’!<\/p>\n

This year, John started school
\nfor the very first time. He goes to a special preschool for kids with
\ndisabilities. He has lots of therapy every day, at home and at school. He has
\nan occupational therapist, physical therapists, and speech therapists. The
\noccupational therapist helps John with things like holding a spoon so he can
\nlearn to feed himself, or using his right hand as a helping hand – which he
\ndoes not like to do. The physical therapists help John to stretch his muscles,
\nand work on helping John to walk, stand and sit. The speech therapists help
\nJohn to use his voice and ‘talker’, which looks like a computer, to speak. He
\ncan say a lot more words since he began school.  <\/span><\/p>\n

John cannot walk on his own
\nyet, but mom and dad put him in a gait trainer which helps hold him up so that
\nhe can stand or move his legs to walk for exercise. He has a special bike, too,
\nwhich helps him to pedal. We take him places where he can walk longer
\ndistances, like the mall, library, or even a toy store.  <\/span>We like walking to the toy store! When
\nhe is tired, he just won’t go anymore and mom or dad will put him back in his
\nwheelchair or carry him. People sometimes stare at him in his gait trainer
\nbecause it looks strange. Sometimes, people will ask “What’s wrong with him” or
\n“What happened to him”?  <\/span>People are
\njust interested in him and his disability. Sometimes people will ask if they
\ncan help us, too.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone says that John has a
\ngreat smile. Most people think he’s cute, too. I love my brother, but sometimes
\nhe does make me mad – like when he gets to watch his favorite tv show, or when
\nhe gets a lot of my mom and dad’s attention. My mom took me to a playgroup
\nwhere other kids had brother and sisters with disabilities. This helped me to
\nfeel less frustrated, and it was lots of fun.<\/p>\n

I have prayed a lot to God that
\nhe would heal John. I know He can. I really want him to walk and talk. I know
\nGod hears me because He gave us John. I am waiting to see what God will do
\nnext.<\/p>\n

When John grows up, I think he
\nwill be a pilot.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

George Ferguson is now a 7th grader and Boy Scout
\nwho likes to draw, build things with his Legos, and play ice hockey.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

**<\/span>For an explanation of the title “Perfectly Human,” and to read the first entry in this series, click here<\/a>. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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My name is George, and I am 11 years old. I’ve always wanted a brother, and prayed a lot to God for a little brother to play with. It took awhile for that prayer to be answered. 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Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}