Thread by @AnnaCaudill4

Relieved to get a vaccine booster today at the Williamson Co. Dept of Health, esp since my high-risk 16yo’s school has no virtual option & no mask mandate this year. His school starts tomorrow.🧵

It is nothing short of miraculous that our son is alive. He was born in 2005 w/ what his specialist calls “the most severe birth disorder compatible with life”-a 1 in 400,000 condition. Within that, his variables place him in the 5th percentile. 2/

It is a tragedy of our age my son was displaced from his birth family because they lacked access to adequate health care for his disability. The care facility that received him made his name a prayer, in case he died on the drive to the hospital.
He lived. 3/

By the time we learned of him, he had been to Singapore and the US for surgeries. Every time, his name was a prayer. “Heaven protect.”
He lived. 4/

The day of his adoption, the horrific Sichuan earthquake shook our hotel, busted pipes, & drove us out of the city offices. We drove the streets for hours, praying we would not have to sleep in the park for the week, w/ no access to running water for his care.
He lived. 5/

As near as we can tell, he’s had 20 surgeries in his 16 years. @Shane_E_Caudill and I have taken turns sitting up too many nights to count when he was ill, praying he’s make it, or begging God for mercy as he screamed in pain in hospital.
He lived. 6/

Too many times to say, I held back the sobs until I stepped into a restroom. Sometimes they’d catch me in the middle of the grocery store, on an aisle by myself. It wasn’t fair that this little soul had to lose everything & still endure so much pain.
He lived. 7/

Through it all, our community was there. The school where I taught @GovBillLee’s kids before YoYo joined us, where @MarshaBlackburn’s son graduated before I was hired. Our church, where our Sunday school prayed and made our house accessible when we adopted again.
He lived. 8/

So many times this child walked a dark road & we didn’t know what would happen next. Even this summer, when he saw his specialist for the 1st time since 2019. A complication necessitated urgent surgery. We’d have caught it sooner, but for the pandemic.
He lived. 9/

And now, @GovBillLee, your politicization of masks in this pandemic threatens the life our community has sustained, the life that women of faith an ocean away fought to protect, the life my own has been poured out for.

He lives. I pray to God that he survives you. 10/

@GovBillLee @CSexton25 @ltgovmcnally I beg of you, please don’t kill our babies. Have mercy. Let schools mandate masks. #MasksSaveLives /end

*he’d make*