When Melody was first born it was a very difficult time for us, as we were given no hope. The prognosis was grim, to put it mildly. At that time, Melody’s daddy found a video by former Senator Rick Santorum, and we watched it as a family. Senator Santorum has a little girl, Bella, who has full Trisomy 18. The video was very encouraging and offered us our first glimmer of hope. Since then we have read and watched anything we can find pertaining to Bella. We love the Santorums’ perspective on Bella’s life. I have thought how wonderful it would be for our family to meet them some day.
Rick and his wife Karen recently wrote a book about Bella and it ministered to us in a profound way. Our journey with Melody has certainly been a unique one. It was encouraging for us to hear from parents who have walked a similar path with their daughter. We could relate on countless fronts to so much of what they wrote. After reading their book, I thought all the more how remarkable it would be for our family to meet them, but I certainly didn’t expect that to happen.
Senator Santorum signing his book, Bella’s Gift.
Recently we were planning to attend an event for presidential candidates. Prior to the event Senator Santorum was told about our family and little Melody. He kindly offered to meet with us before he spoke at the event. We were immensely grateful we had the opportunity to spend some time with him. He really could not have been any more gracious and genuine. Even with all the demands on his time, he was not distracted, but rather focused on Melody in such a sincere way. Our family was so honored to meet with him and thoroughly enjoyed that evening.
Melody is apparently quite comfortable mingling with politicians. You can see from this picture that she felt at ease with Senator Santorum and put up no pretense.
The gentleman in the background approached Melody’s daddy later that evening and expressed how sweet he thought Senator Santorum’s interaction with Melody was. And sweet it was. 😀