A boy born with just two percent of his brain has defied doctors’ predictions after his brain grew back to 80 percent of the average size. Doctors had told the parents to terminate pregnancy not once but five times.
I saw this before some time ago and it just absolutely fascinated me because there was never any other information provided and the little info that was given was tantalizingly vague. Even with 80% of his brain growing surely he had all kinds of severe issues, right? And even if his brain did grow back he might not have lived very long. So I did a little research on him.
Everything happened exactly like it says in the pic- the parents were strongly urged to abort the baby five separate times, and they refused all five times, and he was born with two percent of his brain and he does now have 80% of it.
What the blurb doesn’tsay is that the little boy’s name is Noah Wall and he’s now a very happy, healthy, six year old boy.
Doctors said he would be SEVERELY mentally disabled, unable to see, hear, talk, or even eat. The doctors were wrong. He can do all of these things and more. By age two he was sitting up straight and singing; he can play with legos and computer games, he’s learned how to count, he can hold perfectly normal conversations, and he loves painting. He just recently wrote his name for the first time, and he’s trying very hard to learn how to walk (but that’s still a long way off because he’s mostly paralyzed from the waist down). Most of this probably just seems like boring normalcy, but considering he was born with only 2% of his brain he shouldn’t be able to do ANY of this. The fact that he lived beyond his first birthday is a miracle in and of itself.
Noah hasn’t had a brain scan since he was three years old, so no one knows if his brain has grown more since then, but all indications are that he’s developing physically at a normal rate, and he’s developing well enough mentally that his parents recently enrolled him in a local elementary school- not any special education classes, a normal, mainstream school. It’s hard work for the parents, there’s tons of medical appointments, regular surgeries with lengthy recovery times, they had to shuttle Noah to a neurophysics center in Australia to help him learn how to sit upright. But they both agree he’s worth it.
This is what his mom Shelly has to say: “I thank him every night before he goes to bed. I say ‘Noah, thank you for such a lovely day. I’ve loved my day.’ And he’ll say ‘I love you, Mummy. Night night.’”
Wow! What a great day. This post is going to take a while because my arms have been numb since Thursday, but we got here!
These bags are the style, colors and materials to be selected by the winner. These bags were made to match my nephew’s and niece’s backpacks. As my follower count grows, so will the giveaways.
On April 7th at 9pm PST I’ll be making tags for everyone who’s reblogged this post. From that list I’ll draw one name, that user will have 24 hours to respond before I draw another name. Winner must follow this blog and reblog this post, likes are great but reblogs are needed to get more followers.
If you’d like, you can donate here. The giveaway is not contingent upon donations, that’s just to help offset the cost of shipping, materials, and my time. I’m not sure how I feel about accepting donations at all but a friend encouraged it so we’re going to give it a go this time and see how it works out.
You can viewsome of my other items here. I’ll be working on updating my etsy later today.
“Rainbow Railroad receives hundreds of requests for help every year from countries where LGBT individuals are open targets of violence.
Because the volume of requests is so high, we focus our efforts on assisting LGBT people who have faced physical violence or face an imminent threat of violence, imprisonment, or death.
We have been successful in helping individuals from the Caribbean, Africa and Middle East where we have local networks to support and validate cases.”
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO HELP?
“The costs range as every case is unique. Sometimes the individual has the resources to help themselves and they just need information and support from us to make a move. In these cases, the cost to Rainbow Railroad is staff and volunteer time to research and provide information. In cases where they need financial support to get to safety, it costs about $5000 to cover flights and other related costs.”
If you can’t donate, please reblog/like to signal boost!
I’m broke, but this is something important to me and mine. Donate if you can, spread the word if you’re willing.
Homosexuality is part of human sexuality, regardless of how you feel about it. It isn’t an abomination to find attractive that which you find attractive, or to love who you love, as long as that relationship is between two people capable of consent. Gay folks are everywhere and denying them rights because you’re uncomfortable with who they have relations with isn’t the best thing we can do for them, and it isn’t our best selves.
I was just in the store picking up some much needed salt and post workout when an employee speaking with a mother and three little girls said something about them needing a big brother to protect them from all the boys.
I waited until the mother and girls were out of earshot then told the woman that boys are not dangerous and don’t need to be protected against, but her telling those girls they need a man (brother) to protect them from other men (or boys) instilled fear in them which probably didn’t exist before and made them all, mother included, go quiet as they pondered what a seemingly wise elderly woman told them about needing men to fight men. No management was needed to correct the problem, I could see in her eyes that she knew what she’d done. She apologized to me, I wish she would’ve done so to the children and their mother.
Problem solved. Nobody needed firing, nobody needed to feel bad, nobody needed to get upset. Interpersonal conflicts can often be solved quietly and have a much better chance of helping two people to grow if one of them isn’t trying to destroy the life of someone they took offense from.
It may make you feel momentarily good about yourself while you’re doing it, but destroying someone’s life because you disagree with them makes you a bad person. Doxxing, SWATing, workplace harassment, suicide baiting, death threats, threats of any harm, all things bad people do.
What a mixed day. I’m feeling very blessed these past few days.
I had a couple people I knew when I was a kid help me out a bit, after almost 20 years they reminded me who I am. I’ve been losing myself a lot lately and it was great getting to know me again.
A fairly new friend, of a couple years now, also helped me out. More gave guidance and made connections, but it all speaks to his wasta. Wasta, in the Arab world, is your ability to network or to get things done with your word instead of using money or labor. Because my life often depended on the wasta of my guides I have a special respect and appreciation for people who can use their word to cause or affect actions. It may not mean much to you, but a friend I can take for his word is a rare thing in my life right now.
I lost a Brother very early this morning. I never said goodbye or forgave him and I had every opportunity to do so and the background knowledge and experience to know both were necessary. In my family, if you’re cut off on a phone call and not certain the person on the other end heard you tell them “I love you”, the general rule is that you call back immediately and until they hear it. I took that with me downrange. The last words any member of my family or unit will have heard from me when they die is “I love you.” I have to live with this now, the last words he heard from me were not the kindest words I’ve ever said and that’s all I can even remember of them.
My lady is in Morocco. My dog is staying with a friend across the county. All this life came at me pretty quickly but I still have more good news!
Lots of fitness and diet blogs follow me so you’ll enjoy this; I lost about 4 inches on each thigh and 2.5 from my butt! At 35, my abs decided they want to be seen again and I’m back down to my second-floor weight. 2F was my job on my early years missions, anything requiring a small guy meant me. I weighed about 180 then and I’m 176 today with significantly less body fat.
826 followers! So close. At 1k I’m going to make a pencil case/ makeup bag/ stash bag from my very limited private batik fabric (discontinued and I bought all of it between Redding and Seattle, 2.25yds left in the world) and ship it to a randomly selected follower who reblogs my 1k post. The giveaway is flexible, but 826 of you haven’t offered much by way of suggestions for the giveaway. More details to follow.
As I was writing this earlier today I received a start time for the morning, very exciting. Now I’m kicking myself for leaving all my tools about two hours further south than they’re worth to go get. Oh well, I’m employed doing the thing I love, building homes!
Life comes at you fast sometimes, and it can be hard, but the most precious stones are made under the most immense pressure you get to choose each day how much of that life you can handle. As long as you’re trying to be the best you, you have nothing to worry about.
People used to tell me the strike through when I’d get down on myself for not being able to achieve impossible goals. It’s bullfish. Stress and the pressure causing that stress aren’t healthy. I had to take a step back from my life recently, maybe some of you could benefit from a new perspective as well.
Just out of curiosity how did that guy who resolved to eat only a pure-meat diet turn out? Did he finally wise up? Die of scurvy?
I think he wound up in the hospital at a minimum
I’ve done all meat for about a month, I didn’t really notice much change. I’ve also done nothing but taco bell for several months, potatoes and milk products for a month, high fat, high carb, high fiber, etc. The thing I felt the best on was paleo but that’s because it’s a well rounded diet with no processed garbage in it, but I missed cheese too much. I’m trying keto now but I don’t really have anything left to lose. Paleo was also easiest to shop for, no need to go down any aisles, just make a trip around the outside wall of the grocery store and you’re set.
Humans are pretty resilient, but the best diet for one person isn’t going to be the best for everyone else. Each person has different needs and the best way to get and stay fit is to be conscious of what you’re putting into your body compared to your activity level. At one point I was eating over 6,500 calories daily and still losing weight, I’ve gained weight on less than 1,500/day. You can be healthy eating garbage, but it’s so much easier when you’re eating healthy foods.
One of my go-to vegetables because they’re flavorful and easy to adjust to any entre.
What you’ll need:
Oil (I use olive)
Honey
Lemon juice
Garlic salt
Plastic bag big enough to hold your sprouts
Preheat oven to 350/ 175
Put the sprouts and lemon juice in the bag, add a tablespoon or so of honey and a couple dashes of garlic salt. Shake everything up until the honey dissolves then dump it in the pan. You can do this step in a bowl, I just have a thing with marinating in bags.
Top rack in the oven for 40-50 minutes. *EDIT* Cutting them in half lengthwise significantly reduces cook time but also cooks a lot of the fluids out of your sprouts. Played th with it, have fun.
The lemon juice and honey should start to carmelize on your sprouts and pan, but not burn.
Salt and/ or pepper if you’d like, but these are pretty tangy already.
Anyhow, I have had chia seeds in my home my entire life and never really viewed them as food until a couple months ago. I now drink about ¼ cup of them in a breakfast shake every morning. It keeps me going until lunch and adds some substance to my protein and vitamineral green powders.
Over the past few months I’ve gone from >190lbs to a stable weight of ~160lbs and I feel amazing. I justified the new sewing machine purchase because if I didn’t have a working machine, I’d be buying all new clothes. Now I just need to practice a lot on some old work pants before I start taking my daily wear stuff in.
I get cold sometimes, I use a bit more force than necessary occasionally, and I look like I’m wearing borrowed clothes but it was worth it. Cutting back on the drinking, going outside, being awake in the daytime, and having no money to sit around snacking and watching TV all day really helped, and so did you!
If you’re trying, you can do it. If you’re not, no big deal.
On to bigger and better things. Nothing I can do about what’s happening to my body, drinking and wallowing in self pity didn’t make it any better so I’m going to stop wasting my time with that.
Now I just need to learn to look at my hands to make sure they’re closed around whatever it is I’m holding because I just dropped my phone and I’d rather not do the same with the toilet brush later. I’m not 100% sure how this will affect my sewing but my newly cracked screen makes me think that’s probably going to take a hit as well. I also have to drive later, I have no idea how that’s going to work out.
Interesting path ahead of me. Kinda makes me want to get drunk but I haven’t abused my liver in so long I’d rather just let this past weekend be a hiccup than a new norm.
We get it, if you’ve accomplished a lot, you might really be feeling yourself. You might want the world to know. You feel GOOD. But I think there’s a very thin line between being proud of your accomplishments and being pretentious.
And I toe this line often, admittedly.
What I’ve Learned:
Honestly, don’t bring things up if they’re not relevant to the conversation. Don’t try to “sneak” it into the conversation. You know how you can tell when someone is lovestruck because they constantly name-drop their boyfriend, or say “oh, my boyfriend and I…” in every sentence, when the conversation is about school loans or something TOTALLY irrelevant? Yeah, exactly. It can get annoying. Having a boyfriend, or receiving an award, is not your WHOLE identity (I hope).
It is way more impressive to be humble about your achievements in most settings. Unless this is an interview or you are helping someone who is interested in your experiences, there’s really no need to brag that you got a full ride or how you’ve gotten a 4.0 GPA unsolicitedly. There’s a time and place for everything. Even with forums like LinkedIn which are meant to showcase your professional accomplishments, you need to watch your tone and wording so that the post does not come off as snarky or pretentious!
Life is not a competition. I’ve realized my need to share accomplishments is because I like the validation, but it’s like ??? That’s no bueno. I am actively working on not seeing everything as a competition because that makes life unnecessarily more dramatic and stressful. There’s a difference between confidence and pretentiousness!
Tldr; share only when needed, be humble (sit down), and take a chill-pill. Keeping this points in mind have helped with my mental health too!
I have started waking up early mornings so that I can get the quiet in the house to meditate and then read a book. So my biggest motivation to wake up early is not work but simple happy habits?
