Sweet Charlie Anne

I wanted to take a moment to bring everyone's attention to this blog written by an amazing, courageous, and inspiring mom. I've been following her blog for a while--she is a friend of a friend who reposts her blogs on facebook, though I have never met her myself. Cherie writes about her experiences and emotions as she raises her adorable daughter Charlie-Anne, who has a rare and terminal genetic disorder called Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

When I've mentioned to other moms that I read this blog and what it's about I have gotten the response, "Oh, why do you read that?" or "How can you read that?" The answer is, I can and I do because even though it is so incredibly sad to imagine going through what Cherie and her partner Matt are living, I know that it is only by the grace of Whatever Is Out There that we are not in the same boat.

Any one of us parents can have something cruel happen to our child at any time, unexpectedly. Nobody wants to even think about that possibility, and I can understand not wanting to read the blog because it brings that up. But Cherie faces it every single day, and I want to at least have the courage to witness it, and not turn away.

I am inspired by Cherie's honesty about all the good, bad and ugly feelings she has, her openness about how this causes conflict in her marriage and her soul, and her willingness to point out how we can all be inadvertently insensitive to what may be going on in people's lives. I am also inspired by her love for her beautiful daughter. Her blog gives me hope that if something was to happen to the Boodge, I may be able to find the courage to face it and even give something of what I am learning to the world. But I pray that I don't have to.

Cherie and three friends are taking part in an "Adventure Challenge" for Canuck Place Children's Hospice, with the team name "Charlie's Angels". You can sponsor them here, if you are able. You can also read more about them and the Adventure Challenge in this Vancouver Sun article, or this Province article. Take the time to be inspired by this family, and this little girl.