A Lifetime of Love

I want to share with you about my student who I have been working with at a local elementary school. She is a beautiful, sweet girl and I am extremely burdened for her and her family. N. is 8 years old and in 3rd grade. She has pulmonary arterial hypertension, which is something I had never heard of until meeting her. She has a catheter that enters directly into her heart and wears a backpack that carries the liquid medication. If the catheter becomes dislodged, she has approximately 3 minutes to have it replaced before she faces death. One of my tasks at the school is to ensure this does not happen, and it is very daunting! With her disability, she faces fatigue, shortness of breath, nausea , vomiting, and a host of other side effects. Today I came in and her face and neck were covered in what looked to be red hives. It was caused by her medication. She looks like a normal 8 year old, and generally acts like one, too. I did some research on this particular condition (you know me,...