When our daughter was born she had all odds against her. Her left side hadn’t fully developed leaving her with a partial, mitten hand and a club-type foot. The restriction bands (she was diagnosed with Amniotic Band Syndrome) that formed in-utero made her leg look like sausage links. Her right hand had fingers with webbing to the second knuckle, her fingers were varying lengths, and bands had affected some fingers as well. Additionally, she had hydrocephaly and a staph infection in her blood stream. As if she needed one more strike, she was born in a poor country where physical differences are not seen in public and insurance doesn’t exist. Her birth parents surrendered their rights within two days of her birth. After two months in the hospital, Kseniya was moved to a “baby house” (orphanage). All was not hopeless, though, because God had a plan!
When Kseniya was one month short of her fifth birthday, we learned about her through a series of connections, and God made it clear she was meant to be our daughter. Five months later, she was home and the medical appointments began.
There was no indication left of hydrocephaly though we had been told she was treated for it twice in her birth country. The anomalies caused by Amniotic Band Syndrome are considered severe and her case has stumped seasoned doctors a few times, but nothing has stopped Kseniya! Doctors were able to separate all the fingers on her mitten hand and bring the webbing to normal position on her other hand. Her partial foot was amputated and she was fitted with a prosthetic (a driving force of perseverance for Kseniya). We have had many more appointments, surgeries, and infections than we expected, but when it’s your child, you just do it. It becomes your normal life and you don’t mind. Yes, you get tired some times, but those times don’t last.
Kseniya may look different, but she is a pretty typical pre-teen. As a matter of fact, her spirit shines so strong that most people don’t even notice her differences right away. She writes, runs, jumps, climbs, swims, etc. She motivates and touches others just by existing. What a gift God has given us and the world!
Cassi Beamer
