A Fighting Spirit
Zachary Tawadros turned six last month. His family knows that the fact that he was here to celebrate his birthday is just one of many miracles that have occurred in his short lifetime.
Zach has several labels to describe his challenges, including microcephaly, cerebral palsy, reactive airway disease, gastro esophageal reflux disease and Dubowitz Syndrome. His fighting spirit, however, defies the labels and demonstrates to everyone that he is an amazing little boy.
His mom, Deborah, says, "Everything in Zach's life is a miracle. First, when I was only 31 weeks pregnant and they told me there was no stopping the labor and he was going to be here by morning and his lungs were not developed. God took hold of the situation and kept him in for another five weeks."
Sam and Deborah were told early on that Zach would never be able to talk, run, or jump, but that he might be able to walk by age seven. He can do all of those things, and more--and refuses to be kept down, no matter what happens.
When he was only two years old, Zach fell into the family pool. He was revived by Deborah and rushed to the hospital as a near drowning. The family feared the worst. Would he lose the skills he'd already worked so hard to accomplish?
Once again, Zach bounced back, but although he came through the accident unharmed, his mother suffered post-traumatic stress syndrome for many months afterwards.
She says, "At first I couldn't close my eyes without seeing my baby dead on the ground." Now, almost four years later, she is doing much better with only an occasional flashback to remind her of the intense scare she endured.
The Tawadros have three other children, all older than Zach, who look after their brother and appreciate all that he has had to overcome in his six years with them.
"I think they know how much of a miracle it is to still have him around. They do get upset with him at times for his behaviors, but we try to explain them how they can help him learn to control the behavior."
Zach has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and frequent temper tantrums. He likes to hear the sound of glass breaking, so the Tawadros house is very low on drinking glasses. It's also difficult for them to go out to dinner as a family, since Zach can't sit still for long.
"He will probably be put on medication in the near future to help him handle his behavior," his mom says.
Considering that his prognosis was for a future without being able to move about independently, his parents are more than willing to weather the difficult moments and help him handle his hyperactivity.
Zachary is now in kindergarten in a self-contained speech impaired classroom that consists of children from K- 5th.
Deborah says, "He was in early intervention from 19 months of age until he turned 3. Then he went into the school system for the disabled. We had a very hard time with the school between the time he was 3 until this year. He does not go to the same school as his siblings, they say he doesn't qualify for the program there, which is where his brother is (Deborah's oldest has high functioning autism)."
"He seems to enjoy school and at least we have the school system agreeing on what his problem is, his non-verbal IQ is very high but his functioning ability is labeled moderate delay. They have labeled him learning disabled since they can no longer use developmentally delayed so only time will tell how hard learning will be for him."
"Zach is a fighter and he is our hero," she says. "He has overcome the barriers that were put in front of him. Most adults would have given up, but not him."
Written by Carolyn Murray
