A person must be brave in a world of giants. Surrounded by towering objects and daunting distances, Joshua explores with earnest and wonder. Fascinated by the magic of gravity and its relentless grasp on his new environment, he holds on to whatever is close in the hopes of conquering his adversary. When faced with the challenge of crossing a territory that offers nothing to grasp he looks at his fragile hands, glances over his shoulder and walks into the unknown. After three steps he realizes he may be in over his head. Descending to earth, he sees the hand of divinity reaching to save him. She catches him before he hits the hard wood floor, holds him close and says, “Good job Joshua!”
As a mother, Mikki Bland couldn’t be more proud of her son’s attempts, but three steps is the farthest that the 17-month-old has ever gone. Joshua was born with Galactosemia Duarte, a condition that leaves him with only one third of the enzymes needed to break down glucose, and Pyloric Stenosis, an enlarged stomach muscle. As if these two weren’t enough, he also developed a severe case of acid reflux which confined him to a special high chair – even when he was sleeping – for the first nine months of his life. Luckily after he turned 1, his Galactosemia Duarte became benign, a surgery reduced his stomach muscle and his acid reflux subsided.
Now Joshua has the task of catching up to children his own age. Since he was immobile early on, he did not develop motor skills for walking and feeding himself at the same rate that other children do. He sees an occupational therapist three times a week and attends a class for developmentally delayed children at Lincoln Trail Elementary School in Elizabethtown every Friday.
Despite his setbacks, Joshua continues to look at the world around him with awe. He crawls across the rooms in his home pointing at the doors and lights as if they hold a secret he has not yet unraveled, questioning the possible and what he can learn from his brightly colored toys that scatter his world. For Mikki, seeing Joshua able to discover what so many other children his age have is all a mother could ask for.
“Him being as mobile as he is now is completely beyond my wildest dreams,”she said.
