We missed the deadline for the contest, yet still wanted to
share this picture and the story of our "light princess". This is our daughter, Kyra, pictured in the
little pond outside her Granny's house when she was 1 years old. Kyra has a micro duplication of the 22nd
chromosome, which has caused mental and physical delays in her
development. We were told for 4 years
that there would be a slim chance that we would ever have kids, then Kyra came
along. Her first 6 months seemed to be
"normal", yet on Dec. 23rd, 2008, Kyra had a seizure and continued to
have 100's more over the next few days.
Through a few different hospitals and being in ICU in Sacramento, CA, then
referred to a Specialist we were informed of her disability and it was then
that our life radically changed. After
that day, there has been nothing "normal" about Kyra. She did not walk till 3, after undergoing
casting and braces for abnormally tight hamstrings, did not feed herself till 4
1/2 due to decreased motor skills and still has yet to talk due to decreased
mental skills. This may sound like a sob
story, yet it is not. We have never had
any other kids, so this is all that we have known.
Despite her disabilities, Kyra has become our "Light
Princess". We have often receive sympathy from people with Kyra, yet our answer
is always the same...."Kyra doesn't know that she is disabled". Due to this fact, she has been empowered with
far more joy than most people can fathom.
Her smiles, her laughter, her dancing, her screeches of joy can bring
the most downtrodden person to a smile and fill them with a momentary burst of
joy as a sunbeam penetrates a grey cloud.
It seems as though our lives have become unbearable at times, with her
disabilities and seizures on top of that, yet Kyra has never let that hold her
back and her light shines bright enough to push us out of the pity parties that
we sometimes have and we are able to bask in the joy light of this little
princess and our worries and sorrows seem to melt away.
When we saw your latest album cover of "The Light
Princess", it resonated with our Spirit and we saw Kyra as a younger
version of just that. We have gone
through some difficult times, yet our light princess has been there each time
to lift us up, shine her light and often times lead us to the source of that light so that we
might bask in it. Although we may have
missed the contest, we could not help but to share her picture and her story
and show you our own "Light Princess".
Thank You for your inspiration,
David, Melissa and Kyra
