Being a twin is something big, but being a triplet now that's a challenge. Being a triplet also has consequences, and for my family that consequence happened to my little brother CJ (Colin but most people know him as CJ). We were with my parents out in Lethbridge wedding dress shopping for my mother because she was about to get married and something was wrong with my brother; he was rushed to the hospital in Lethbridge where we heard that it had to do something with his heart. It was devastating because we knew he wouldn't be able to go to my parents wedding, but my mom snuck him out to go to it anyway.
Later, in grade 10 we were near the end of the year, in quarter 4, when we were told that my brother would have to go in for open heart surgery to get a valve put on his heart and we went to Edmonton for his surgery and a lot of my family showed up for support. On the day of his surgery my family started to leave when he was in surgery, most of my family left including my brother Trez and my sister. My father, mother and I stayed in Edmonton with my brother CJ. After a successful surgery the doctor said that it will take 3-6 weeks for him to recover, but knowing that my brother was still young I knew he would recover fast, before the given time, and I was right. We went home four days after his surgery. In fact, the day after his surgery he started to walk and that's how I knew he would recover fast.
On February 6, 2017 a life changing moment happened, my brother CJ had a severe stroke that could have killed him or could have been prevented, but neither happened, he wasn't killed by the stroke nor was it prevented, but the stroke did cause his right side of his brain to go dead. After that he couldn't move his left side of his body, but he had feeling in it which was a good sign; however, he couldn't move his left arm or leg. I thought this immobility was something that would stay for good. We didn’t know what caused the stroke, but it turned out that it had to do with that valve they put in a couple years before. It seems the valve got infected.
After a couple months in the hospital my brother is now doing fine. There is no more infection on the heart valve and he’s been going to therapy trying to get that left side working again. Through all this all I had was hope, hoping that my brother would be fine would get better. He has been sick all his life, not knowing what was going to happen in the future for him. Through this experience I know that I now have the courage to give my brother CJ, the courage to get through all of this and I know that he already has some of that courage because of what he has been through already. I will try hard to give him even more courage and hope because family in the best courage and hope you will ever need.
-By Dennis Mountain Horse
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