Cherish!

           Before I begin, I need to recognize that my life is extremely blessed.  I have never had to suffer through hunger, shivers, or loneliness.  I have always been provided with everything that I need and more, and for this I am extremely grateful!  And, most importantly, I have both a mother and a father as well as two brothers who care so much about me.  But, unfortunately, I think that I sometimes forget this.  I often take everything that I have in life for granted and do not always appreciate those in my life whose love for me is unconditional.  It is normally not until something occurs in your life that you essentially get a “wake up call” and come to the realization that nothing, and no one, should ever be taken for granted!

            Brothers, as we all know, can be a pain in the butt sometimes; especially little ones!  From my experience with little brothers, they like to follow you around and question every action you make.  They try to pull stupid, little pranks on you that pretty much just make you angry.  And they absolutely thrive on doing the complete opposite of what you tell them to do! This has always been hard for me.  I admit that I have not always been the nicest big sister.  My patience level with Kobi is most of the time very low!  Our relationship has always suffered because of this. Until a few weeks ago, I did not recognize just how blessed I am too have such an incredibly strong and perseverant little brother!     

              About a month or two ago, Kobi started to get sick.  Obviously, because it was the middle of winter, we just assumed that he had caught the flu bug that had been infecting so many this past winter season.  Throughout these two months, I watched my eleven year old brother grow progressively sicker and sicker.  The days of runny noses turned into heavy coughing.  The heavy coughing resulted in throwing up blood.  Eventually, Kobi’s poor little body was so weak and achy that he was overcome with agonizing pain upon standing up.  For almost a week straight, Kobi did nothing but lay in bed; because that is all his body would allow him to do.  The oftentimes annoyingly over-active kid that we were all used to seemed as if he had little life left in him anymore.  Kobi visited a series of doctors, all of whom gave a different “answer”.  Pneumonia and a torn esophagus were among the diagnoses at the first hospital visit.    

            We have always been told to trust the doctors, right?  Well, that’s exactly what my family and I did.  Kobi took the antibiotics prescribed to him, but his health was not improving even the slightest bit.  Two weeks ago, my mom decided that it was time he see the pediatrician in Flagstaff.  When they arrived, the doctor looked Kobi over and told my mom that they needed to take him to the Phoenix Children’s Hospital.   My dad rushed to Flagstaff and the three of them went to the hospital in Phoenix.  After days of blood work, biopsies, and tests Kobi was diagnosed with an extremely rare disease called Wegener’s disease.  This is an auto-immune disease that causes his blood vessels to inflame which then restricts blood flow to his lungs and kidneys.  If this disease is not treated properly and in a timely manner, then the potential of kidney failure is very high. 

            Blessedly, in Kobi’s case we were able to catch this disease in the early stage and he only has slight kidney damage.  He can be treated, but not cured.  This whole situation forced me to rethink all of the words that I uttered in annoyance.  I saw my baby brother at his weakest point.  I am forced to face the reality that his life will never be the same as it was because of this horrid disease.  I did take my brother for granted.  I now realize just how blessed and thankful I am to have someone who follows me around everywhere.  I will never again complain about having to pick Kobi up from practice, or the way that he smells from running around all day!  No, instead I will thank God for one more day to watch my little brother do what he loves!  It is unfortunate that it sometimes takes an extremely scary situation to make us realize what we have.  So don’t wait for the day when you are unsure if your loved one will be ok or not, cherish them anyway! 

Love Always,

Kylie K.