The Day Our World Changed for the Better

Today marks World Autism Day and here at Hearts for Healthcare we wanted to highlight one of our Fundraising Committee members and her family’s journey into the world of autism.

“Your son is being diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder”, those are the words our family heard 6 years ago.  Words that we had been expecting, but words that still took our breathe away.

We were brand new in the world of Autism and we were drowning, the diagnosis and the supports that followed began to lift us back up.

You will hear about the hard parts of Autism and believe me there are days when tears are the only option, but you don’t often hear about the beauty, about the good and about how a family can thrive.

Our son, Rylan, made our family slow down.  He made us remember what is truly important and where we really want to spend our energy and our time.  He is a human being filled to the brim with joy and that joy spreads throughout our family and all that we do.  Every day he is living his best life and that is pretty much all parents want for their kids.

When we lace up the skates we enjoy the quiet on our lake rink, we embrace the beauty of hiking at the Provincial Park, and relish the cannon balls off our dock.  Food tastes better, the sun shines brighter, and every day is a new adventure.

We will never grow tired of hearing the fun facts that fill his head, or trying to stump Rylan on a math question and we will always LOVE his sassy personality.

When Autism throws challenges our way, we come together as a family to make it through and we remind ourselves that the world may not be made for Rylan, but the world most definitely needs more of him.