Marla Murasko

As a first-time mom I was happy and I knew from the very thought of my son's delivery that I was going to have a journal to document the journey so I could share it with him when he got older. But then when I learned of my son’s diagnosis when I was four months pregnant, I knew that this journal will also help me to document all the information, medications, tests that could potentially happen after he was born. There was a lot that I was going to have to digest and it was going to be easier for me to keep it all straight by writing it down.

After Jacob's first surgery, I looked at my husband and said "I think I need to write a book". Of course he laughed, but I was completely serious. If there was anyway I could help another family out that might go through what we went through to help them better prepare, I wanted to do that.

So I sat down in the hospital chair as my son was hooked up to all these machines ringing loudly in the background and started to write. Soon "Jacob's Journal - My Journey Home" was created.

This story is unique in the way I wrote it, since I chose to write it as if my son was telling the story. This story will take you on an incredible faith-filled journey as a family enters the world of having a child with special needs.

This book is a recount of what Jacob went through the first 6 months of his young life, and the unique thing is I wrote it as if Jacob was telling the story, becaue in fact it is his story. I also created a glossary of terms so that families can understand somewhat some of the medical terms that were being thrown at us.

I hope that this book brings some peace to families as they receive that frightening news of their child having Down Syndrome, and to rejoice in their blessing of having a child with special needs.