Hello Kim, after reading this beautifully written article, it opened my eyes- that although we all might be quietly hurting and healing in this life, there are others going through similar situations that can help just in hearing their story. I am inspired by your son, by you as a mother, and by your family. I believe as parents we want happiness for our kids. It may come in all shapes and sizes but as you wrote the words below, it reminded me with such amazement, that my son is nothing short of a brave soldier for the determination, courage and inner strength to find himself in this world. “Suddenly I saw him not as my child, but as a person who had persistently taken a singular and difficult course to achieve the cohesion of his selfhood. To be so young and to know so certainly who he was—to have the fearlessness to have parts of his body literally cut away—was to express a kind of personal power and determination that left me awash in awe.” Thank you for sharing an intimate part of your lives because it most certainly helped in the deepest possible way.