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Health & Fitness

For Juliana: A Mother's Story of Struggle, Strength and Hope

This is the first publication here on the Patch of the ongoing blog about Juliana Ramos currently being updated at www.forjuliana.org.

Let me take you back … 22 months ago.

On October 2, 2009 our family entered into a world that we could not have imagined. Some people refer to it as a ‘story’ but we know it as our life. 

It began with a car accident on a horribly rainy night which resulted in a Traumatic Brain Injury for my daughter, Juliana Ramos. What followed was a year of survival and recovery that would mark only the beginning of a lifetime journey for her back to independence. Along the way Juliana began to gain a following through Facebook that amassed to over 4,000 followers. Then, the ‘story’ became national. Juliana’s fiancé Chris Medina went on reality TV and to hundreds of thousands of American Idol viewers told the audience how he spent the previous year caring for his fiancé as she tried to return to their life together. After all, "what kind of guy would he be if he walked out on her when she needed him most?" 

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The words heard 'round the world sparked the interest of famed record producer Rodney Jerkins who took those words, and others Chris spoke on the show and penned the song, What Are Words that would go quadruple platinum in several countries. Quite a story, eh? 

And that's really just scratching the surface. 

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What happens everyday in my daughter’s life, and as a result in the lives of all those around this broken angel can be followed on through this blog and my blog at ForJuliana.org. It's not always pretty, certainly not always happy, but it’s always my truth. 

Sure, others may see the "story" differently, and Chris and I in fact have seen many "facts" from completely different angles even though almost every step of this journey has been a shared experience. But this blog is how I see it. I am just a mom who is learning to fight for her daughter, my other children and often myself, as I learn how to be someone completely different than I planned, just as Juliana must do every day.   

As we begin to approach the second year of this journey the emotions are more deeply rooted in dealing with the realities that lay in front of us. Juliana continues to learn all the things we take for granted: walking, talking, feeding herself, and so much more. It seems so far from the girl who was six weeks away from becoming 'Mrs. Chris Medina' back in 2009, but it's just as far from the girl doctors didn't think would live long enough to be admitted to the hospital room. 

Feel free to browse backward a bit, even purchase the book available on Amazon, For Juliana, Almost to the Almost One Penny at a Time which is the publication of the first year of my blog. You might be surprised to find a little bit of yourself in the way our family learns to live again and hopefully you will find yourself laughing, crying and holding your loved ones a little bit tighter. But if you follow us forward I can tell you that you will be witnessing this miracle unfold. I couldn’t have written a story more surprising than the one written for us in these last many months and I don’t dare try to outdo fate. I do plan to live it though. I also plan to tell it. Won't you follow along?

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