A diagnosis is not a prognosis. I can’t tell you how many times I have repeated this 6 word sentence. Mattie’s Neonatologist told us this when we were called into his office the day we learned Mattie had PVL (brain damage).

As Mattie grew and failed to meet milestone after milestone, I would almost chant these words in my head each time I saw her struggle to do things that she “should” be able to do. I have always believed that with hard work and perserverence anything is possible. I started to doubt these words I lived by.

How can Mattie sit, stand, or walk if her brain does not know how to tell her body to do it? Each time Mattie struggles to sit up or buckles to her knees when stood up is a consistent reminder of her diagnosis. Wait – a diagnosis is not a prognosis. So we push on. Mattie pushes on.

Then something incredible happens, Mattie accomplishes a new milestone! I think to myself, a diagnosis IS NOT a prognosis and with hard work and perserverence anything IS possible!

Until… the next time I start to have doubts and then this ridiculous cycle starts over again. But today is the day. The day that I promise myself and her that I will no longer question or doubt our decisions as far as what therapies we do, how often we do them, or wondering if we are doing enough, because I can only do what feels right to me and what feels right to Mattie. Progress is progress no matter how we get there or in what time frame we get there.

Mattie continues to prove to me that I was right; with hard work and perserverence anything IS possible! Check it out for yourself. Mattie has learned to sit up on her own!