Almost four years ago, two of my best friends welcomed to this world their second son. Now, where most of us parents have all the joys that motherhood (or fatherhood) bring in that miraculous moment you meet your new child, theirs was filled with uncertainty. Their son was born with the condition spina bifida. Basically, a portion of his spine never fully closed and his nerves were developing outside of his body. Before, Ciarlo (pronouned Char-loh...like the Italian word 'ciao') was a day old, he was whisked away to surgery where they proceeded to close the hole. This little man either lost, or never had feeling below his hips due to the damaged spinal cord. Without getting too detailed, Ciarlo's life has seen its fair share of surgeries and trips to CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) with many overnight stays.
