Kari Andrews:
Hi, my name is Kari Andrews. I’m the responsible party and parent for my son, Hunter Andrews, who receives services here through Accra. Hunter joined our family when he was 10 months old through foster care, and then he ended up not ever leaving. We were able to adopt him a year and a half later.
Hunter is just this great kid. He loves playing with Legos, he loves construction, and he loves being outside.
(to Hunter)
“I think he likes you better.”
He has found three frogs this week and is in his glory because he just plays with these frogs. He names them and creates a little storyline about their family or whatever it is.
He has a genetic condition called Dias-Logan Syndrome, and it’s very rare. When he was diagnosed, there were about 30 people worldwide in published studies. Since then, they’ve quickly learned that more and more people have it, as well. Hunter is 10 years old, but he’ll always be in that kind of toddler stage. He’s grown and progressed, and things are good, but he’ll always be half his age or less.
We ended up doing a neuropsychology test, and a neuropsychologist was able to summarize all sorts of great things about Hunter. They did quite a bit of testing, but she said, “You need to go home right away today, call your county, and get an assessment for PCA services.”
She also said, “I’ve had over 20 years of experience, and in my experience, families with situations like yours won’t survive unless they get some help.” That was just an eye-opening conversation. Honestly, the weight off my shoulders was lifted in a huge way.
Before we had a PCA in place, I felt like I was just surviving the next few hours. Accra does such a great job of helping to make sure that all the employment things, the application stuff, and payroll are all taken care of. I get to help pick the person who will spend all this time with Hunter.
We learned that we needed to ask a specific question during our interviews with potential PCAs:
“Do you like bugs? Are you okay with having bugs close by? And do you like to read?”
PCA:
(to Hunter)
“I hope I get to meet Robbie Rat.”
Kari Andrews:
Hunter just loves to sit and listen to books for hours and hours and hours.
PCA:
(to Hunter)
“I have bad news, kids.”
Kari Andrews:
I am so thankful for what Accra does for us. They still meet with us a couple of times a year. We set up a care plan together and figure out what a PCA could do to help benefit Hunter’s life. It really is a personal care assistant, and Accra helps tailor that for each person. Accra has just been a huge blessing.
