BELIEVE YOU Can Make A Difference Series - Exceptional Parents Unlimited (EPU) Part One

Being a parent truly is the ultimate gift of all.

Children are the beautiful, life changing gift we create and dedicate the rest of our lives to providing the very best for them. Children bring about more love than ever thought imaginable. They bring us belly-aching laughter and evoke joyful tears. And they will teach us more than any textbook available.

Although parenting comes with several wonderful and joyous experiences, it's still a difficult job. And it's much more challenging when you have a child with special needs. As parents, it's natural to worry and to ask Life certain questions about whether our child is developing properly cognitively, emotionally and in their motor skills. But, being a parent of a special needs child can lead to more worries at an exponential rate.

Marion Karian, the founder of Exceptional Parents Unlimited (EPU), recognized a need for support and assistance for families with children of special needs and BELIEVED she can make a difference.

Marion's idea first started in a conversation she had with her roommate at University of California, Los Angeles. She was working towards her Masters Degree in Maternal & Child Nursing and also had started a family of her own. Through some volunteer work she would do during the week, she began to recognize a need not being met.

"Wouldn't it be nice to have a place for families who had children with special needs from birth where we could provide assistance to them, so to ensure their lives stayed on track and dealt with the emotional impact of having a child with special needs?" Marion asked her roomate.

Her passion and enormous heart then led her to genetic counseling. Although not trained as a genetic counselor, Marion began talking to mothers if there was a problem at birth. She met many mothers with babies born with Down's Syndrome.

These mothers were taking their babies home and not knowing what to do. She was able to provide them information but....

"I was not walking their journey, had not. I was a mother and realized that was a difficult job. Just thought if I had a child with special needs, how much infinitely more difficult it would be."

During her talks with the mothers, they began to ask questions like, "What do other mothers do?" At that moment, this very question, brought Marion's idea to life.

"That might be a good thing to do. Bring them all together, because they could help each other in more ways she couldn't. That was like Magic." Marion said.

Continue on with this Inspiring story in Part Two.

Further Reading:
BELIEVE YOU Can Make A Difference Series:

The Dedication of Teachers
Power of the Internet
Special Olympics