Today is MPS awareness day – the fourth I’ve marked since Pudding was diagnosed with Hunter Syndrome in July 2015. Whilst I have come to more acceptance of the condition, I can never ‘celebrate’ it.

But what I can celebrate are the other wonderful parents that I have met because of MPS:

The parents who spend weeks in isolation with their child through a bone marrow transplant.

The parents who travel across the country to sit for hours by hospital beds.

The parents who want to be there for procedures but can’t leave work.

The parents who have to stay strong so they don’t crumble in front of their kids.

The parents who can no longer physically manage caring duties 24/7 and have to welcome strangers into their house.

The parents who have no option but to soldier on with no help whatsoever.

The parents who encourage their kids to achieve whatever they can.

The parents who have to make decision after difficult decision.

The parents who learn to take on the role of nurse as well, accessing portacaths to administer treatment.

The parents who hold down a screaming child for yet another needle.

The parents who fundraise and push for new treatments.

The parents who are reeling in shock at one child’s diagnosis and are then told that their baby may have it too.

The parents who step into the unknown on clinical trials knowing that it might not even help their child, but may pave the way for the future.

The parents who have had to give up hope of seeing a treatment in their child’s lifetime.

The parents who dreamed of planning university and weddings and instead plan their child’s funeral.

The parents who are watching their child slip away bit by bit.

The parents who have already lost their child.

The parents who wish they had never heard those three little syllables, M. P. S.

The parents who are convinced that they are broken, that they cannot fight any more. And those same parents who carry on regardless, day after day, because that’s what parents do.

The parents who will love their child, for ever and for always.

You are all amazing. You are all stars. I wish I could send you all chocolate and flowers but virtual ones will have to do…