35 responses to “Testimonies from You”

1. 

   Damon

   May 16, 2025

   I remember the first time I caregave for Kevan. I didn’t have any training, had never helped anyone with a disability before, and truth be told, I was scared. It was 8 am when I walked into Kevan’s room. Kevan was lying in bed, on his side, facing away from me. I said “Hey Kevan”, and he replied, “Good Morning”. A momentary thought popped into my mind, “why doesn’t he rollover to talk to me”, and as quick as that thought entered my mind, I realized, he can’t. You see, for all my interactions with Kevan, he was in his wheelchair, and anyone who’s been around Kevan knows he moves around in his wheelchair as much as you or I move on legs. In fact, sometimes I forget he’s in a wheelchair. Nothing hinders him. I have legs. He has wheels. We always end up in the same place. However, his moment was different. Kevan wasn’t in his chair. He needed me to move him, to get him clean, to dress him, and to get him into his wheelchair. As surreal as that half-second realization was, it didn’t last, and neither did my fear of caregiving for someone with a disability.
   It’s ironic I was the scared one. You’d think it would’ve been Kevan. He’s physically at the mercy of another human being. Despite all my bumbling about that morning, Kevan was the one encouraging me. He skillfully and precisely directed me through the caregiving, and in the midst of it, we were talking, conversing, getting to know each other on another level. Kevan had invited me into his world, a world where dependency and vulnerability aren’t weakness, where respecting one’s independence is balanced with learning their needs, where relationships are lived out in conversation, and where cellphones sit untouched for hours. I came expecting to help a friend in need, but I found I was on the receiving end.

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