Vayda has been doing wonderfully this session. She’s present, engaged, and truly giving it her all. Our Brave, Strong Beautiful Girl never gives up. Her grace fuels our motivation. While I haven’t shared much in-the-moment content during actual therapy, it’s because real progress takes time. Just because she may sit up once or twice doesn’t mean the work is done—sometimes it takes multiple sessions, even multiple intensives, to build lasting, functional change. This is a long-game effort, and Vayda is in it for the win.

As we reach the halfway point of this session, we’re already beginning to look ahead. Our plan has been to return for another round in July, and we’re still hopeful we’ll be able to do that. But as we’ve learned, no place is perfect. We’re committed to keeping an open and informed mind, making decisions that are in Vayda’s best interest every step of the way. Navigating this journey means constantly advocating to get her in front of the right therapists and specialists. And through it all, Vayda reminds me—this is her story, and she’s the one writing it.

This week brought an unexpected situation at therapy, which reminded us how important it is to stay flexible and thoughtful about future care decisions. Every experience, even the tough ones, adds to our learning and fuels our advocacy.

And while I’m here on the front lines with Vayda, I want to take a moment to acknowledge Brad—her dad, my husband, and our quiet rock. None of this would be possible without him working hard back home to keep everything steady. When our original housing plan with Ronald McDonald House fell through due to a long waitlist, he dropped everything, came to town, helped move us out of our initial place, and secured a new space for the rest of our stay—an unexpected expense we hadn’t planned for but are so grateful he made happen.

As we move into the second half of this session, I’ll be sharing a video soon to highlight Vayda’s progress. For now, you can follow along with us on YouTube at @VaydasAdvocate. It’s not all therapy—we’re sharing some moments of play too, because joy matters just as much as milestones.

Thank you all for continuing to support us on this path—we see you, and we feel it.