My hero....Wesley!

There are some people that God places in your life and just by getting to know them...you are forever changed.  One of those special families for me was my sweet friend Amanda Goss and her son Wesley.  I met Wesley and Amanda a few years ago shortly after Wesley had been diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis.  Wesley was a kindergartner at my school where I work as the nurse. 

Amanda is one of those people you meet and you feel like you have known her for your whole life.  She is sweet and soft spoken.... has a gigantic heart and would do anything for you.  She was the one person I trusted to babysit my foster son while he was living with us.  We have shared laughter and tears and have become what I know will be a lifelong friendship.

Recently they found out that their family would be relocating to Colorado for her husband Ryan's new job.  I am thrilled for them and instead of being sad that hey will be far away I am thankful for the time we have had together and look forward to seeing what AMAZING plans God has in store for them in this new adventure.

I ran across this letter I had written when Wesley was the poster child in our area for the Arthritis Foundation.  It reminded me of how Wesley has taught me so much about strength and perseverance.  This amazing guy is truly a super hero.  He reminds me of how to walk in someone else's shoes and feel their pain to better understand how I can help in any way possible.

When Wesley’s teacher Mrs. Fox came to me and told me that Wesley was dropping out of school because of missing so many days due to being sick from pneumonia and his chemo meds,  we knew we had to do something more.  We joined the Arthritis Foundation’s “Walk for Wesley” team.  I put an email out to our faculty.  Right away our librarian Mrs. Swigart emailed me back and said…”I ordered a book.”  From there I went to each and every classroom to begin educating our students on arthritis.  As a nurse I feel the BEST kind of nurse is one that shows compassion.  I teach this to my children at home and my children at LeRoy School District.  We can treat people’s sicknesses and injuries but if we don’t show compassion and empathy it’s just not as effective.  My classroom visits were filled with conversations on what it is to think about others trials they may be going through.  Our conversation was about how it’s more important to think about others.   While we worry about who is going to play with us on recess….Wesley is worried about if he runs too much on recess he will “pay later” with painful joints.  When we worry about what outfit we are going to wear that day Wesley worries about feeling alone and that nobody understands what he’s going through.   When we worry about how many people like us…Wesley and his family are worrying about how sick he will feel from his medication.  We learned to focus on IMPORTANT things like helping friends.  After our conversation our students were determined that Wesley was NOT going to feel alone.  They showed their support by bring in a dollar and writing their names on a mobile to hang on a “Wall for Wesley”.  I couldn’t wait for Wes to come in and see how many kids “had his back”.  It wasn’t about the money we collected it was that they were there for him!  Wesley and I walked down the halls of the school and the students would come to the doorways and stare and wave and say “Hi Wes…we’re here for ya!”  You would’ve thought he was Justin Bieber!!!!  Wesley and I would keep walking down the halls to the next rooms with the same responses and  we’d giggle!  He was loving it!  Everyone looked at him like a ROCK STAR!  And isn’t that the way it should be?  We need to show our children who the real heroes are…..at LeRoy School District…ours is WESLEY!

I love you Amanda and Wessie Noodles!  Also love you Kaleb, Leigha and of course Ryan!