EXCHANGE: Family honored for adopting challenged sons

CHATHAM, Ill. (AP) - Troy and Jocelyn Piper knew they had enough love to share with children who have special needs when they brought their adopted son, Nolan, home from Hong Kong in 2015.

Then a 3-year-old, Nolan had lived in the loving orphanage called "Mother's Choice," where caregivers did what they could for the child who has medically complex cerebral palsy and a seizure disorder (Lennox-Gastaut syndrome).

"He didn't have a birth history because he was found at 9 months old in a wild dog feeding field where people toss their trash," Jocelyn said. The Pipers call Nolan, now 7, their "little miracle child."

Through Nolan, the Pipers became aware of their second adopted son, Francis, who came home with the Pipers from Hong Kong in 2018. Francis, now 11, has autism and WAGR syndrome, a disorder that affects many body systems, including the eye where there's an absence of the colored part (the iris).

The Pipers were curious about Francis after they received updates on Nolan throughout the course of Nolan's adoption.

"There was mention of this little boy (who) stayed in and played with Nolan, laid next to Nolan, loves kissing on Nolan," said Jocelyn.

Troy said: "Francis had no one advocating for him and no one necessarily interested in him, and if we didn't know of him through the paperwork about Nolan, we would have never known, and he probably would have aged out of the adoption process.

To show how children with rare and severe medical conditions can thrive in loving homes, Gift of Adoption honored the Piper family on Thursday at its annual Gather for the Gift gala. The event also recognized the organization's new #RAREis Adoption Fund, an initiative to help facilitate global adoptions of children with rare diseases.

Gift of Adoption, a Northbrook-based, national charitable organization, provides final funds needed to complete adoptions of vulnerable children. The Pipers received a grant from Gift of Adoption to bring Francis home.

The Pipers hope that more people will consider adopting children with rare diseases.

"Ideally, we go to this gala, and the word spreads everywhere, and people hear our story, and dozens of families across the country come forward and adopt every kid in Mother's Choice and give them all great homes," Troy said on Wednesday. "Then the only thing is then there's another orphanage, and there's another country, and the need never ends."

At the time that Troy and Jocelyn married in 2009, they became a blended family that included Troy's son, Colton (now 23), and daughter, Riley (now 20), and Jocelyn's daughter, Jaimee, (now 14).

Troy, who is 51, and Jocelyn, 34, both wanted to adopt children.

Jocelyn, who discovered she has Type 1 diabetes when she was pregnant with Jaimee, said adoption was a "no-brainer" for her and Troy after they discussed it.

"We knew that there would be complications (with Type 1 diabetes), and that it was probably just not realistic for us to have our own children together," Jocelyn said.

The Pipers were married nearly five years when they started the adoption process. They hadn't thought too much about adopting a special-needs child until they started their home study and someone asked if they would consider the domestic adoption of a special-needs infant.

"The baby was four months old, and mom had already had a son with muscular dystrophy, so she had this little boy tested, and he tested positive for muscular dystrophy," said Jocelyn, who added that he would be in a wheelchair for life.

"She knew that she could not take care of two, and so we were one of two families being considered, and she went with the family that was close to her because she still wanted to be involved in the little boy's life, but it really opened our eyes and our hearts opened to special needs."

Jocelyn and Troy became aware of Nolan through Lifeline Children's Services, having been accepted into the organization's Hong Kong program. In applying, the Pipers had to list the special needs they were willing to accept.

"We sat down, and said, 'Well, we'll take Down syndrome, and we'll do this, but we won't do that, we'll do this, we won't do that,' but then when you see their faces, and you see videos and pictures of them, then none of that matters," Troy said.

Jocelyn works for Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Troy is a high school physical education teacher in Rochester. They attend Hope Church.

Nolan is nonverbal, but is happy. He uses a wheelchair and a jejunostomy tube (j-tube) for nourishment.

"Going into it, our expectations were like, 'Oh, we'll get him up. We'll get him walking,' and all of that went out the door, and it never mattered. It didn't matter," Jocelyn said. "We're in the hospital a lot with him, and it's just one of those things that it doesn't seem like a burden. He's our child."

Nolan is going into second grade, and Francis will be going into fourth grade at Glenwood Elementary School. Both are sometimes in general education class as well as the special education program. When Nolan arrived home at age 3, he was wearing size 18-month clothes. Now he's age and size proportionate.

"We've seen our boys thrive, and even though Nolan's never going to be independent and living on his own, and doing things, but he is thriving. He is, number one, alive and defeating the odds of his longevity. He's growing," Jocelyn said.

Troy said: "I'd be willing to bet that he wouldn't be alive today if we hadn't adopted him."

Jocelyn said that she and her husband aren't special or saints because they adopted special-needs children.

"It goes to prove to you that ... everyone belongs in a family, and you thrive when you have that family bond and that love," Jocelyn said. "Their joy and love is what keeps us going every day."

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Source: The (Springfield) State Journal-Register, https://bit.ly/2IiA0gC

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Information from: The State Journal-Register, http://www.sj-r.com