The Story of Joshua and Jeremiah Straughn

The Story of Joshua and Jeremiah Straughn
as told by their mom, Kim

I was about 3 months into my very first pregnancy I found out I was pregnant with twins. Although during the first trimester I had been very ill I was now very excited. I continued to have a difficult pregnancy and had trouble gaining weight but I was having fun buying and fixing up the nursery for twins. At 32 weeks I went for a routine ultrasound. This is where my world came crashing; it was discovered that I had lost one of my baby boys. A few days later, I delivered two boys by c-section. Jeremiah was stillborn and Joshua was severely physically disabled and placed in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at Memorial. The pain of losing a baby that you never held, never had a lock of hair or nuzzled his neck is unreal. From the moment I saw Joshua in the NICU though, our eyes met and are hearts were locked…I was his. He needed me…it was determined later on that Joshua was also developmentally disabled. His world evolved around those who cared for him because he couldn’t care for any of his own needs. He remained forever at the developmental age of a 2-year-old.

Joshua loved the music of Shania Twain. He loved it so much that when he was bedridden for the last 4 years of his life he would move his head to “dance” to the music, so much so that the bed would hit the wall. He also loved to watch the show Jeopardy and he always won. Josh loved knock-knock jokes… and being read to by the nurses and family members. His smile was infectious, and his favorite word to call those he liked and loved was “brat”. After he called you a brat he would laugh. He never got angry and although he had around 60 surgeries and numerous fractures in his life, his spirit soared with joy…whenever he received attention from the adults and children that would visit. Joshua was called back to Heaven in October of 2000 just 6 days after his 16th birthday. He is now with his brother Jeremiah and doing all the things he couldn’t do here on earth. I always thought Joshua really needed me…. now I know the truth…. it was me who really needed him.