Meet the Greco Family - Peter, Lauren, Caroline, Michael

By: Aaron Olson - Photo credit: Liz Kaye Photography

Peter and Lauren Greco are the proud parents of Caroline (2) and Michael (5 months). Their family currently lives in Carmel, IN, where Peter runs a beauty product manufacturing company called William Roam and Lauren is a stay-at-home mom. Lauren and Peter moved to Carmel in 2018, but feel like they are still very new as Caroline’s condition occupied much of the couple’s free time for their first year and then COVID hit last year. Lauren has said she very much looks forward to becoming a bigger part of the community and developing relationships with other parents.

Lauren’s pregnancy with Caroline was normal and went for the full term. However, during labor Caroline’s oxygen was cut off for several minutes and as a result, she suffered from a condition known as neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). The long term effects of HIE are varied and generally not ascertainable immediately after birth. For almost a week, the new parents waited, and in what Lauren describes as one of her happiest memories, Caroline started to cry. Unfortunately, the struggle was far from over. Within the next year it was determined that as a result of the HIE, Caroline developed cerebral palsy, dysphagia (problems swallowing), and strabismus (visual delay). As a result, she would be developmentally delayed, suffer from motor impairments, and have to eat from a gastrostomy tube.

Lauren’s advice to other parents is to focus on the present. She says “when your child’s future is uncertain, it can be painful to try to look to the future and ask yourself questions like: ‘will she run, walk, talk, eat by mouth? Have friends? Will she be happy?’” After I shifted my focus from obsessing over the future and what could be and focused more on the amazing child right in front of me, things became a lot better.” Lauren suggests focusing on the day-to-day and learning to appreciate the smaller milestones, and eventually bigger goals will come into focus. Recently, Caroline started to use eye gaze technology to communicate, a computerized device with a mouse controlled by the patient’s eye. While Caroline is still learning, it’s a serious accomplishment.

Although Caroline is too young to start school, she attends hippotherapy once a week at TheraPlay. Hippotherapy is a form of physical, occupational and speech therapy in which a therapist uses the characteristic movements of a horse to provide carefully graded motor and sensory input. This is often confused with therapeutic horseback riding which has more of a recreational appeal. In hippotherapy the therapist starts by finding a foundation and then uses the natural gait and movement of a horse to provide sensory input.

Five months ago, Lauren and Peter had another child, Michael. The family now enjoys going for walks at West Park in Carmel, spending time outside, and spending time with each other. They are currently planning on doing much more traveling now that Caroline can manage it, and they are looking forward to a more social life in a post-COVID world.

Do you have a caregiver that you would like to nominate to be in an upcoming issue of Special Needs Living? Email us at SpecialNeedsLivingIndy@n2pub.com.

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