Three Rights Make a Left

My Brother Shawn

When I was 13 years old, my brother Shawn was born. It was a very traumatic time in my life, as well as my mom and dad’s, my brothers Ron and Jeff and our entire family. Shawn was born breach, that is he was born behind first rather than head first. For whatever reason, the doctor chose to deliver him naturally rather than by C section. There were complications.

His umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. That meant that his body was deprived of oxygen for an extended amount of time. That caused brain damage that was irreparable.

He was born with a brain tumor, and he was what was called a ”Water-Head Baby”. The tube that drained fluid from his brain didn’t work. The result was that his head swelled to huge proportions. Only days old, Shawn went through brain surgery to remove the tumor. Then days later, another brain surgery was performed to install a shunt to drain the fluid from his brain to his stomach. This included a pump just under the skin behind his ear that we would have to push to manually pump fluid.

Twice we were told that Shawn would likely not live through the night. But my mom, ever the prayer warrior, organized Christians to come to Santa Rosa Hospital in San Antonio and pray him through it. Her efforts worked. We were told that Shawn wouldn’t live past the age of 15, but last March he turned 53. He is a living testament to the power of prayer.

It is a sad fact that when faced with a future taking care of a special needs child, a lot of men leave. Not my dad. He stepped up and, along with my mom, dedicated their lives to making sure Shawn had a normal life. They made it clear that when they passed everything they had would pass to Shawn for his care. My mom passed first, and my brother Ron built our dad and Shawn a house where they lived until my dad’s death a couple of years ago. Mom and Dad intended that Shawn continue to live in Floresville, where I grew up but that really wasn’t practical. Our brother Jeff took care of Shawn the first couple of years, but Dad awarded his custody to our brother Ron who lived in San Antonio. A few years ago, Ron bought a house on five acres in the Texas Hill Country between Kerrville and Ingram, Texas, and built a small house for Shawn on the property. To say that Shawn is a proud homeowner is an understatement. He loves his house in the hill country, but sometimes gets lonely. So, whenever he likes, Shawn comes and stays with us for a few weeks like he just did recently. At the end of his visit, I took him on an adventure. Shawn had never seen a Cowboys Game in the new AT&T Stadium. So last Friday I took him to a terrific pre-season game against the Seattle Seahawks. Dallas won, but we left the game early because we had a long all-night drive to Kerrville. I have to tell you, the drive was an adventure as we went through Glen Rose, Hico, and Hamilton. Then we got on Highway 16 through Goldthwaite, San Saba, and Fredericksburg. There was almost nobody on the road that late at night, and for good reason. We literally saw hundreds of deer along the way. We arrived at about 4:30 am, and I got a few hours of sleep and had to drive back. But it was worth it to get to spend time with my miracle brother Shawn.