From a Dragonfly Mom:
“It’s childhood cancer awareness and I wanted to take a chance to hit on an area sometimes overlooked and that’s the siblings. This photo was the day Luke and Joel met. Because Joel was born during flu season and with restrictions in the NICU, they didn’t even meet until Joel was 3 months old! We truly felt like we were living a dual life. We’d go to the hospital and care for Joel, then we’d head home for “normal” family time with Luke. It was like two separate families and it was awful. Every day I got up for time with Luke before sending him to a friend or family’s house so I could go be with Joel. He started saying, “Where do I have to go today?” because he knew he was off somewhere. I went to the hospital one night for a test and didn’t come back for days and when I did, I was half there because I had to go take care of this mysterious baby he kept hearing about. It was the way it had to be and we had amazing people helping us, but the reality is that while Joel was fighting just to live, Luke was fighting to figure out what was happening to his world. I will never forget my friend, Ann, sending a care package along with a meal one night and it had gifts for Luke. It was so special for him to be loved on too. Please remember all the family members when checking in on cancer families. The trauma these siblings go through is real and they need care too. Maybe this is why Dragonfly is so special to us because they love on our whole family! Praying for a day this won’t be an issue.”