what I thought was the best answer to the survey of "why do you like Hanson..." for the week of 8.8.97 - 8.14.97

what steph has, generally doesnt cause mental retardation. its not typical of the syndrome. what it does cause is facial, and cardiac deformities, in stephs case, a hole in her heart, and malformation of her face around her eyes and nose (yes, she looks a little funny), and really low muscle tone....she's big time floppy. for some reason, though, she never really developed normally, mentally. its weird, she's not retarded, she learns, but she doesnt conceptualize..for example, she was taught the alphabet, and how to put letters together to make sounds, but couldnt figure out that those sounds represented language...it just meant nothing to her. she didnt understand the concept of want, or need, or desire, or even dislike..just played with, ate, listened too, wore, whatever she was told..never fought with her sister, because whats to fight over, if you dont have any idea of a preference? she rarely spoke, one because her speech was difficult to understand, and two, because she had nothing to say....given a choice of sitting staring at the wall, and playing with toys, she'd probably just stare at the wall, because it didnt involve any active participation....she also had no short term memory..she once left school in her socks and shirtsleeves, in february, snow, ice, the works, and got frostbite on her feet, and never even remembered that she had a coat and boots, or figured out that she should put them on, and wouldnt be cold anymore....and she didnt mention her feet hurt, because, i assume, it didnt matter/register that something was wrong. needless to say, she couldnt be left alone at all, and spent every waking moment with me, or someone else...the morning she came running downstairs, jumped out of bed and booked it downstairs because she heard "mmmbop" on tv, and wanted to see it, was a major milestone in our house..first thing she'd ever, ever , ever, showed an interest in. i told you some of the rest, she asked for braids....30 bucks an hour to put those things in, but she got her braids..and then zac took 'em out, well...so did she.... as i said, she started singing, this child who never spoke, and i mentioned that the words were in the cd....and she grasped the concept of reading....these words are what they are singing? oh my god... i told you about the bike, and for a kid with really low muscle tone, riding a bike is hard work..but if the hansons ride bikes, so does steph... she's just blossomed, her functional level has come up from 26 months, to nearly six years...just a little behind her age group. she chooses her own clothes (guess who she dresses like?) her own music, (again....) and her bedroom looks like the zachary hanson fanclub headquarters.....she may be a bit obsessive, right now the only thing she really cares about is hanson, zac in particular, but its spreading to other things, and i'm not about to complain...if she wants to dress like him, fine. listen to him? allright. we have about three hours worth of hanson appearances on video tape, if she wants to watch it every night, whatever...i'll spoil her for a while, she's gone eight years without liking anything, i'm inclined to indulge her...she fights with her sister now (thanks, boys.....), and goes out to play like the rest of the neighborhood kids..she no longer needs constant supervision. needless to say, her doctors/teachers/therapists are mightily impressed, and they too give credit where its due....one of them said to me, "i hope some day you can tell these kids what they've done..it could brighten up a dark day, someday". so i guess thats what i'm trying to do here...we dont want any kind of...i've been accused of looking for publicity, or attention...i dont think we need any kind of personal reply, or anything like that, i'd just like to know that maybe someone told them what they did. i'm well aware that they really didnt do anything, except make their music...but something about them touched a child nothing could touch, and she's living now, where she was existing before, and for us, its a miracle. these boys have a very big place in my heart, now, and i'd like to think they could know about this, and know how gratefull we are. (is this just a really long, involved way of saying "thanks, you guys." ?) they have a big spot in our prayers, and we wish them all the best. (my "mom" genes kicked in a while ago...i keep wanting to go"is everybody well? is this still fun? sleeping/eating, etc...right? like, they don't already have a mom and dad right there, right?) anyway, thanks for your time, again, and if this gets passed along, i hope they'll realize what a difference they made.

Thanks for reading this to the end! Don't you agree that this is really touching? I just read it again, and I almost want to cry. It's amazing, and I agree, even though I'm not part of their family, that this is a miracle.