[olesmokey]

Yesterday, after my workout, I hit the showers. When I reached for my washcloth I realized I had grabbed one of the boys' cloths instead. How did I know it - well most of my toiletries do not have an image of Spiderman on them. Anyway, I finished cleaning up and thought nothing else about it.

On the way home from work last night I got a call from my oldest son. Earlier in the day he had competed in our local Special Olympics and he just had to tell me about his day. He entered two events and brought home two blue ribbons - first place in both. That would be enough to make any dad proud. I was already bummed out because I was not able to get off work to go see him compete. However, to hear the excitement in his voice was, as the commercial states, "priceless". He is priceless as well.

When he was born almost 12 years ago it was tough. Unknown to my wife and I she had contracted a virus during the last trimester of pregnancy and passed it on to him. We had no idea there was any kind of problem until right before his birth. At my wife's last doctor's visit he told us he did not like what he was seeing and was going to admit my wife and induce labor in the morning. So now we are rushing about trying to get things together for a rush delivery. At this point she was two weeks early.

During that night, as she was having contractions, the baby's heart rate would plummet. The doctor decided that at 2am he was going to perform a C-section and take the baby. By the time I put on my scrubs and made it to the delivery room he was almost out. It was then we noticed something different. He was not crying. He made no sounds at all. The nurse quickly showed him to us and then ran off with him. We noticed that he had spots all over his body. We would later find out the medical term is a Petechia Rash.

I was able to stand by the incubator with him for a while after they got him stabilized. He held my index finger the entire time and would squeeze it every so often. I knew then he was going to be a fighter. After several hours of trying to help him it was decided that he was to go to our local Children's Hospital an hour away. There, he was diagnosed with CMV, more commonly known as cytomegalovirus. The doctors gave us grim outlooks on how things would be - if he lived. The pictures of children with this virus that they showed us were horrible. We were told that he would be restarted and have a difficult life to say the least. We were shell-shocked. 48-hours earlier we were happy expectant parents. Now were a couple of scared, confused people who did not know what to do next.

Fast-forward 11 years later - he is currently in the 5th grade and loves life. Because of his CMV, later on he was diagnosed with ADHD for which he is on medication. The school has made special accommodations for him but he spends most of his day in the classroom with the "regular" students. He loves to play and dearly loves Spiderman. Little did I know when I grabbed the Spidey Rag that I would be setting myself up for something spectacular later on.

Tonight, he wants to go to the pizza place and celebrate. Pizza is not on my diet. But you know what - my son is my hero and if he wants pizza, then daddy is going to be right there with him.

I am so proud of my son. I am glad I have started this transformation in my life. I want to be around a long time for both of my boys. My hope is one day they can say their dad is their hero.