New here...

Hi everyone I'm new here. Let me tell you about my-self. I have been happily married for 15 years this October to a wonderful man. We have three amazing children together. Our middle son Joey has autism, cerebral palsy and white matter disease. While I was pregnant with our third son, I started to write a journal telling him what his brother Joey has had to face in his short 5 year life. Such as the trials that he has had to overcome. I wanted him to see his older brother as a person and not a burden. As time went on someone mentioned to me that I should turn the journal into a book; so that other parents will know that what they are going through and feeling is normal. They should not feel that they are alone or a bad parent. So I did just that and "Growing with Joe" was born. I did not want to make money off my son's disabilites so I started a scholarship fund at my local Easter Seals to benefit a child in my area that is in danger of withdrawing from therapy due to financial difficulites. While raising Joey, I have learned that many special-needs services are income based and expenses are not considered. In my state, autism is not mandated to be covered through health insurance companies. As a result, many children are not recieving the proper therapies due to other medical expenses. I reformated the book to an autobiography and told the readers exactly what my family and myself have had to face due to Joey's disabilites. I wanted to show the readers that see your child first and not their disability was so very important. After all that is what they were...a child before the disability came into play. So I asked several people who have been active in Joey's life to write a letter to him stating what they would want to say to him if he was to be able to understand them. In short, what they have learned from just knowing him. Many chapters of my book are concluded with a letter to my son. You can can view one of these letters and an excerpt of the book at the following websites www.freewebs.com/daniellehiner or www.myspace.com/danielles_den. I have had an amazing response to this book. Proud does not explain how I feel about it. I am personally selling autographed copies (Joey stamps each copy) which can be obtained through the freewebs website. The price is the same as what the internet bookstores are selling it for that are not autographed.