Great idea for a thread! And yes, this case has taken a definite toll on my emotions. My youngest son turned 12 this week. When he was born in a scheduled C-section in 1998, he wasn't breathing due to acute meconium aspiration syndrome. He spent six weeks in the NICU with tubes down his throat and in his chest, and an IV in his sweet little head. For three weeks, it was a "touch and go" situation and the doctors could "make no promises" that he would live...finally he improved and came home on 24-hour oxygen and breathing treatments- also an apnea monitor. Many times the wires from the monitor would get pulled/tangled as he slept...as long as I live, I will never, EVER forget hearing that screeching alarm go off at 3 or 4 am!! I would bolt up from sleep and RUN to him, terrified that he had died. Thanks be to God, he was finally taken off the oxygen, etc. after six months, and today he is a bright, happy and healthy child. He doesn't have a whole lot of material things, but he never whines; in fact, he has a beautiful outlook in life, full of optimism, kindness, and many, many ((hugs)) for his mother- me. So he decided a while back that what he wanted for his birthday was an Ipod "touch." They cost over $200, which right now is a LOT of money for us- a LOT. But, damn it, I was DETERMINED to get that Ipod for him!! My boyfriend, who we live with, is currently unemployed and doing any and everything to put food on the table- he was willing to pawn a lot of his work tools/equipment to get that Ipod, as he grew up poor and knows what it is like to rarely if ever get something special for his b'day. I told him to hold off on the pawn shop, as he needs his tools, but he scraped together $50.00 to go towards the gift. So as of Monday of this week, we had a whole $50 down, and about$180.00 to go, and Colton's birthday was Wednesday. I decided to ask his Dad, who lives in another state and also my sister and one more relative who usually sends a $10.00 b'day check to him- well it was hard, but I asked them to all put whatever they could on our prepaid Wal-mart VISA, lol, to go toward the gift. They were all wonderful, and by Tuesday we had almost $200.00!! I have to admit that the thought of robbing a bank crossed my mind a wee bit- : ) - but I got a grip on myself, lol, and decided I'd rather continue reading/posting on WS, as opposed to 'starring' in my own little thread ("Mom robs bank to get her son an Ipod"!!) Colton has a half-brother, my older son, 22, in his senior year of college. They have different dads, and my older son Evan is lucky to have wealthy grandparents. So I called Evan and explained the situation and he was like, "Don't worry, Mom, I'm on it!" And this is highly unusual for Evan, who, despite being an "A" student is also an even worse procrastinator than me! I know he loves his brother but I wasn't counting on him to follow through... Well, imagine my shock when Evan comes to our door, unannounced, on Colton's b'day, carrying a beautifully wrapped Ipod for his brother! Turns out, he wheedled/conned/begged our case to his rich-but-miserly Dad's family and came up with enough $$ to buy the Ipod all by himself, and he didn't even want my money! I guess my POINT here, lol, is that Colton has a lot of people who care about him including me, my boyfriend, my sister, and Evan- we all worked as a team to ensure that this child WOULD NOT BE LET DOWN on his 12th birthday (he has been let down a lot in the past, due to financial problems). As a result, my son had the BEST birthday he's ever had- he's on cloud nine. So I think of Zahra, who had basically nothing, in terms of people loving and pulling together for her. Forget electronics- this child didn't even have a loving and protective mother/mother figure in her life, something we ALL need, especially at only TEN years of age... How isolated she must have felt being pulled out of school, which I imagine was the ONE place she felt loved and welcomed. I have had a recurring staph infection in my right tibia for years, and I KNOW just how EXCRUCIATING limb/infection pain can be. But little Zahra was not even "allowed" to get medical attention/monitoring due to her sorry set of so-called "parents." How lonely she must have felt, all alone in her "attic prison"!! I am certain that having friends was not 'permitted', oh GOD FORBID this child had a slumber party!! Isolating a human being is beyond cruel, but the Bakers didn't care. Yes, I have thought of/worried over/prayed for Zahra every night since the news of her 'disappearance' broke and I pray to God that she wasn't in pain for weeks, all alone and suffering; I hope her death was quick, but I doubt it. My own family is struggling financially right now, and I am far from being a "perfect" mother, and yet we have love for one another, and especially for our youngest member, Colton, who literally fought to breathe and live for almost a year after he was born. I just wish that Zahra could have felt even a little bit of the love we feel for my baby boy (he may be 12 now, but to me he's ALWAYS my BABY!!). The "village" of people who love him busted a-- and came together this week to ensure him a wonderful birthday; we are all so grateful and joyous that he is alive after what he went thru as an infant. And then there's precious Zahra, two hearing aids and a prosthesis, always smiling in her pics- HER 'caretakers' chose to see her as a burden, I guess. I wish she could have at least experienced a real mother's- and father's love before she died. I wish she could have known what it was like to feel TRULY cherished and loved. I am so sorry, little girl, that you were treated so badly... horrifically, to be truthful. I hope you receive all the love in heaven that you were so heartlessly denied on earth. Shame, shame, SHAME on the Bakers!!:furious:
