Free A Short Walk Home by David Cry Page B

it’s the same thing that your uncle and my son had. It’s fatal, genetic, and it runs through our family. And if you have a son, there’s a 50/50 chance that he could have it.’ Her aunt only wanted to protect her; she had helped to look after Jaymee for years and felt a certain responsibility. Jaymee took this in, but offered little in way of a response. She was only 18 years old at the time; none of what she had heard really resonated or made sense.
    Jaymee and Pat had an interesting relationship. Pat always made sure that she knew where Jaymee and her sister were, and how they were being kept. Whether it was Hawaii or Northern California, Pat made a point of keeping track of the girls, evensending money to make sure that the girls were well taken care of. At one point, when Jaymee was 16, Pat began to make attempts to adopt Jaymee and her sister. Rather well off, Pat would not only be able to afford them a better life, but could give them the care and attention they were desperately lacking. It wasn’t until Pat’s mother got wind of what she was considering that this plan came to an end.
    “If you go through with this, I will
never
speak to you again!” she told Pat in no uncertain terms. Jaymee’s grandmother was famous for her exaggerations and histrionics, but Pat understood that she was serious. She discontinued her attempts and resigned herself to letting nature take its course. I believe that, in some small way, she regrets never having followed through. My wife’s life would have been entirely different, I’m certain. But then we would probably have never met.
    The thought of ALD did not occur to Jaymee again until age 20, when Jaymee became pregnant with Logan. She became obsessed considering the possibility, so much so that she decided to have an amniocentesis performed as soon as possible. At four months along, she was confirmed to be carrying an ALD-positive fetus. Her son would be predisposed to ALD. Thoughts raced through her mind; by this point, she had already bonded with the life living inside of her. She knew that she would carry him to term, but remained mindful that at a certain point in his life, she would need to become more aware of ALD.
    But from the second he was born, Jaymee loved Logan. After a couple of years, his father was out of the picture (as far as them living together as a family goes), forcing her to take responsibility for caring for him. By all accounts, it was difficult; but the life that Jaymee had led up to that point had made her strong. And being mindful of all of the things that she had endured, she madea conscious choice that she would not discipline Logan the way her father had her. Neither would she ignore him as her mother had done. She would love him, and not worry about the small, trivial things that seem to plague so many people. She was—and is—a good mother; loving, caring, always there for Logan. She was proud of him, and I hope proud of herself. Single parenthood can’t be easy.
    Jaymee set out to live as normal a life as possible with Logan, and she did an exceptional job. As Logan grew up, he attended school and played sports, like most other kids his age. The first time I ever saw him, I met a well-adjusted young man. That having been said, when Logan and Jaymee moved to Louisiana, he did tend to give me grief. I guess that, in his mind, I had stolen his mother. He wasn’t getting as much attention as he was used to, and even though I made efforts to reach out to him, there was a distance between us during those first few months. He called me “Dad,” but I often heard reluctance in his voice. It didn’t hurt my feelings; he was, after all, still a child. He was very mature for his age, but deep down he was a 5-year-old boy, and likely confused by all of the change he was experiencing.
    Over time, things did improve. I saw in Logan a heightened sensitivity that I could relate to. We both altered certain things in our routines as we adjusted to one