Kevin's Healing Journey: North Carolina/ Carroll Family

Sunday, November 3, 2019

North Carolina/ Carroll Family - October 17-20, 2019

The Ohio family took a trip to visit the North Carolina family. My mother-in-law's brothers and sisters and their families. The family lives in Hudson, "a small town in the foothills of the western part of the state with views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Grandfather Mountain". It's been about five years or more since we visited. Her sister, Dryna who lives in Georgia was coming into town for her high school reunion and so we all planned a trip to visit.

Thursday - Grandma traveled with us and gave us and Kevin some good company on the car ride. I told her I was jealous of the 2 small bags she packed. We travel with everything but the kitchen sink...literally! All of Kevin's meals and snacks for 4 days, a 5 gallon cooler filled with water, dishes, spoons, cutting board, knife, etc. etc. etc. After we arrived, we met Grandma's twin brother and wife for dinner.

Friday - we met Jon's brother's family in the hotel lobby for breakfast. We all went to The Blowing Rock together, it was a very fun and gorgeous day!

"Blowing Rock is a village in western North Carolina on scenic Blue Ridge Parkway. It’s named after The Blowing Rock, a formation with sweeping views of peaks, forests and the Johns River Gorge."

After lunch, our car with Grandma decided to check out a walking trail nearby around Price Lake. It was a 2.3 mile loop and Kevin made us proud by walking the whole way. It was labeled as easy because there were no hills but it had uneven terrain and a little bit of an obstacle at the end of the trail. Kevin did great! He keeps surprising me and I love all our family adventures.

Some of the obstacles

We did it!

We met some of the family for dinner at the local fish house for dinner that night. Table for 12 please with onion ring-shaped hush puppies. Kevin and cousin Ethan were entertaining as we waited for our table.

Saturday morning - Kevin and his cousin Ethan and I went swimming in the hotel's (cool) indoor swimming pool. Jon and I took a hike at Lakeside Park with a 2+ mile trail around a lake in the red dirt.

Saturday afternoon/evening - We gathered at Uncle Butch and Aunt Linda's house with all the family. The weather was a bit chilly and kept threatening to rain but held off mostly so we could enjoy Uncle Butch & Aunt Linda's beautiful multi-level deck with gazebo and stay warm by the fireplace. It was so nice to see everyone, especially the youngest generation of kids that we had not met yet or who had grown up since last seen. We missed seeing the cousins, spouses, and kids that weren't able to be with us that day. So grateful for this opportunity to gather with the family.

Aunts & Uncles: Aunt Dryna & Uncle Eddie, Aunt Kathy & Uncle Kim, Uncle Butch & Aunt Linda, Jackie, Aunt Laura, Uncle Joel (& Aunt Kathy)

Cousins: Douglas & Shea (Andrew & Charlotte), David (Baby Arlo), Monica & Neal (Ava), Alison (Emma), Ryan & Emily (Zoey), Ron & Sarah (Ethan), Jon & Karen (Kevin)

Carroll Brothers and Sisters

with spouses

Carroll Cousins

with spouses

The Kids

Kevin hanging out with Uncle Butch
on his fabulous deck by the fireplace

Kevin and Grandma with Aunt Linda

Uncle Butch doing his best to introduce all the family members

The boys liked hanging out in Grandma's hotel room. And Kevin liked his cousin's iPad!

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My Blog

This blog was created to keep our family and friends updated on Kevin's healing journey. It is also our hope that others may find this blog to give help and hope to other delayed kids.

About Kevin

They told us Kevin would never walk or talk. But with lots of prayers, hard work, and extra hands, he began walking when he was four years old and we continue to have faith and hope as we wait patiently for his speech to develop. Kevin is now eight years old. He is diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy due to a brain-injury he had before birth that was caused by a stroke. In 2006, before Kevin was 2 years old, we found Glenn Doman’s book "What To Do About Your Brain-Injured Child" that had answers to help children with special needs and developmental delays. We began an individualized home treatment program for Kevin immediately and have been dedicated to our program ever since. We spent three years with the Doman family at The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP) and now we are with Matthew and Carol Newell at The Family Hope Center (FHC). Twice a year we return to Philadelphia where Kevin receives a neurological evaluation to determine the progress he has made in the last six months. Then they provide us with an individualized, program that puts me in charge to help Kevin develop and reach his fullest potential.

Do You Know a Delayed Child?

The best recommendation we can give to another parent with a special needs or developmentally delayed child (brain-injured, brain-damaged, mentally retarded, mentally deficient, cerebral-palsied, epileptic, autistic, athetoid, hyperactive, attention deficit disordered, developmentally delayed, or down's) is to read Glenn Doman's book What To Do About Your Brain-Injured Child and/or Dr. Coralee Thompson and Dr. Philip Maffetone's book Healthy Brains, Healthy Children. By simply reading these books, you will gain valuable information to help your child which will begin to unlock the potential your child has. And best of all you will learn that there are other options to helping your child that you can do yourself. We would also highly recommend attending the parent course at FHC or IAHP. To read how our journey began and the successful progress Kevin has had refer to the January 2010 blog archive.