05/02/2019
*feel free to share*
Up until this year May was the month I spread awareness about Cystic Fibrosis but May is much more then just that now... But let’s start there....
July 6, 2010- Mr. Giovanni Anthony Falzone made his way into the world after 5 and half hours of Natural Labor and Birth weighing 7 pounds 6 Oz... Didn anyone catch the uniqueness of his birthday and birth weight lol yep they were both 7/6 lol... I took my HEALTHY baby boy home from the hospital the next day and everything was perfect.... However he never seemed to be full when I nursed... I felt like he was on my b**b all the time. As much as I wanted to Breast feed only it just didn’t seem like I was giving him enough milk (perhaps I wasn’t getting enough milk in) so I started adding formula after each nursing period... Still he never seemed satisfied but I didn’t think anything of it other then (my baby is a little fatty). At Gios one week appointment I told the doctor why I added formula and she had me bawling saying I wasn’t trying hard enough and that “ you can’t be lazy about breastfeeding it takes work and practice” well about a week later just 15 days after I had Gio I received a call that rocked my world.... “ Hello Miss Kennedy we received Giovanni’s new born screening and you need to make an appointment with the Loma Linda CF Clinic. Sitting in clinic that day was the hardest days of my life up to that point.... I felt helpless as I rocked my baby I knew that if he was going to stick around I was going to be in for the fight of my life... That day began a whole new life for us it was learning about CF and learning meds doing treatments Doctors appointments hospital stays Gio has endured so much in his life He’s spent thousands of hours doing treatments taken more then 200,000 pills (that’s not an exaggeration I did the math lol.... he’s had a total of 7 picc lines placed been in critical condition 3 times faced 3 surgeries and 4 Bronchs he’s had an upper GI a lower GI with barium e***a, he’s had more xrays then I can count and has been just the absoluteness about it all... Gio is not the sickest CFer at his age I know... However this is not a competition I am so grateful for his health This month in May Gio will hit his 3rd consecutive year without a hospital admission.... I am so proud of my little man and I am praying he beats the odds and lives a beautiful and long life....
NEXT
Less than 10 months ago I sat on my sofa and gave my 15 month old daughter her first sour candy (war head) I laughed at the face she made as she tried it looking confused at me then gave it a second lick and handed it back to me. I then gave her, her very first whole apple to munch on we took a video and then I took her in the bathroom with me while I got ready for school picked her up and gave her kisses and handed her off as I walked out the door to go to school at 5pm ... It was a normal Thursday test day at school except this day we would meet our school ambassadors... After we were introduced we exchanged snapchat codes and I showed them the cute videos I took of my baby just one hour and 20 mins ago as the teacher came in we all got settled into our seats ready to put our stuff away for our test suddenly my phone lit up with a FaceTime call from my 11 year old daughter I answer the phone and I hear “SHAYLYNN FELL IN THE POOL AND SHES NOT BREATHING” those words that are embedded in my mind. I screamed “HOW LONG WAS SHE IN THE WATER?” She said “ I DON’T KNOW” at that very second I knew I lost my daughter.... I was gone for ONE HOUR AND 38 MINUTES. And in that 1 hour and 38 minutes my life forever Changed I was not the same woman or mother as I was just 1 hour and 38 minutes prior to that moment... I never thought that this would happen to me I am such a helicopter mom when my baby’s are little and even as they get older I was always careful about bath tubs and pools I had safety gates and a baby proof play room I had a play pen and I never left her unattended how could a mom who is so attentive lose their child to something that was absolutely preventable??? Did you know that drowning is the number one cause of death in children between 1-6? Did you know it only takes 5 minutes of being underwater before a child can be brain dead if even revived after drowning? Did you know there are classes that teach your infant and toddler to roll over if they fall in the water to float and save them selves? I didn’t know that until it was too late for my little girl... Don’t be a statistic!!! Educate and take prevention measures to save your little ones if it happened to me it could happen to you!!!
May is CF awareness month it is also Water safety awareness and has a blue ribbon.... Drowning impact awareness and CF ribbons are both the color purple!!! Both are Life threatening and both Happened to my children... I Love you Giovanni and I love and miss you Shaylynn
