Our Little Oddyssey

What is an Oddyssey?
Well, the word means a difficult but significant journey. I decided to name it that because that's what we've been going through since February 18, 2002. Not to say it is all a difficult journey because there are many things we have been taught by our Little Oddyssey. His name is Matthew, AKA Peekaboo Man. He is almost three years old now.. He was born with several brain malformations and is a very special little boy.
Matthew's Story: (Matthew is 3 years and 4 mos old now!)

It's kind of hard to start from the begining since matthew is almost two and a half now. Matthew was born with 4 brain malformations, he can't walk, crawl, talk or see but has the soul and spirit of an Angel. I am his grandmother at age 39 and am raising him and trying hard to give him the very best in care and my goal is to help him live the best quality life he deserves. But you can read his old web pages at www.geocities.com/secretadmirer021802 and www.babiesonline.com and at this site you have to look up his name, matthew sanderson.Well, first of all, I've been a grandma since I was 37 years old. Daughter, Matthew's mom was 19. He was born Feb. 18, 2002. No problems during pregnancy and was told the day he was born, he was a healthy, 6lb 7 oz baby boy. He had hair shiny like moondust gold and twilight eyes of blue. Perfect in everyway. Ten fingers, ten toes. Little did we know our lives were about to change forever on Feb. 19th. 2002 I had decided to go home the next day s and shower and change since the baby was okay and so was mom. The nurses had kept him a lot longer than they did the day before so I figured Mary could get some rest. I came back about two hours later and was on the elevator to go up to her room when I bumped in to an old friend of mine on the elevator, she said she just delievered flowers to my grandbaby's room. She looked really upset and I saw something in her eyes that just didn't look right.. Anyway when I walked into the room, Mary was in tears, Big Matt was sitting on the floor crying hysterically with his dad holding on to him and his mom crying too. I thought matthew had died but he was in his moms arms sound asleep. I said What? What? Whats wrong? Someone please tell me. All Mary could say was "something's wrong with baby matt". I was about to go bezerk because no one could tell me beccause they were crying so hard. Finally, Mary told me "some of what the doctor had said". All I heard was, mental retardation, never walk and some kind of fluid filled cysts in Matthew's brain. I could not believe my ears. How could this happen? How could the doctor give news like this anyway without Mary's parents or grandparents around to help her? Anyway, I took Matthew from Mary's arms and began to pray. This is where Matthew's Journey begins and also when my life changed forever. Have you ever just cried so much your throat hurt and your eyes stayed swollen? You couldn't listen to almost any songs or watch any TV programs because you would just start crying. Does the sight of a little blonde haired blue eyed child running in front of you in Walmart bring you to tears? Have you ever had so many thoughts running through your mind that you just couldn't concentrate? I can remember driving to work in Jackson and crying all the way to work and all the way home. Since then, I have learned that when families get bad news of a loved one, even in Matthew's case, the way I was acting was part of a grieving process. It's like Matthew had already died. I know now that I may have been grieving over the part of matthews life that he would never have, like the walking and talking and being able to see his grandma and mommy's face. Well that's part of how I felt for about a long time after we got Matthew's official diagnosis from a neurologist. It's was even harder then because we all had prayeed and prayed and were looking for a miracle when we went to the neurologist two weeks later but it just didn't happen. 4 of us went with Mary and Matt to the neurologist and got even worse news. Blindness, Mental Retardation, most likely severe, never walking, totally dependant the rest of his life. I knew then in my heart that if we prayed that God may let our Angel do what the doctors say he never would but I know now that some of it's just not going to be a part of God's wonderful plan for sending Matthew to us. I never knew how to look at the "soul" of a person until Matthew came along. He is a beautiful little boy that can't do what other kids can but his soul and his spirit is such a blessing to me. Just seeing that beautiful smile every morning is what keeps grandma strong and ready to face each day on my Journey with Peekaboo Man. :

Diagnosis: Microcephaly, Shitzencephaly, Pachygyria, Polymicrogyria, Hypotonia, Septo Optic Dysplasia.