I Wanna Live

   

A few years ago Pam and the kids gave me John Denver's 'Essential' greatest hits double cd as a gift. I had seen a special on PBS with him and was reminded, how many of his songs I recognized and liked. But it wasn't until Jasper was first diagnosed with MPS that I realized what this song of John's really meant to me. I was driving home from work one day in the spring of 2011, not long after we learned MPS was part of our lives. With John's CD in, this song came on. It really hit me hard hearing it for the first time since learning of the diagnosis. With all the new (incomplete) information running through my heart and my mind at the time, the lyrics in this song made me cry for Jasper's sake. He begins by referring to all the hardships that kids are born and raised in places less fortunate than ours, although he never mentions illness exactly, you know it has to be included as well. But was really the chorus that made me weep for Jasper.

"I want to live I want to grow,
I want to see I want to know,
I want to share what I can give
I want to be I want to live"

All we ever ask for when children are born is that they're healthy. Doesn't matter what sex, or how big, or how much they weigh, 'as long as they're healthy.' Hearing the words in this song, and having a child with a degenerative, life threatening disease really make you realize how much you just want your children to be alive, to be happy and healthy.

Please have a listen, think of Jasper, and all the other kids affected by disease and tragic conditions as well.

Thanks.