It had been two years since we had made the journey to Texas. Malia has been flying since she was six months old and she is a great traveler. She never complains. Simply traveling to San Jose is a journey for this crew as we literally pack up the house ( a mini hospital ) and take it everywhere we go. Flying internationally with a medically fragile child can be a challenge but one we have always taken on and we like to think we do a good job. The one emotion that cannot come into the mind is worry. Having a strong faith and believing that God is in control helps take away the worry in the “what if’s “ Malia battles daily seizures, and having one inflight is and can be very stressful. Before leaving CR Malia was having tiny seizures ones that are more of a nuisance as it is twitching of her hands and feet. We decided to give her some Clonazapam, as it was day 5 and we were concerned about her having a big seizure. Clonazapam is a sedative used for seizure control, we don’t use it daily only in case needed. Malia was getting sleepy by the time we were to board.
We are the pre preboarders.. Breck has to break down Malia’s wheelchair, literally take it apart, collapse it, store the accessories in the flight attendant closet and the frame down below. I pick Malia up and take her to the seat where Cinthya and I use various props to get her to sit up by herself. Malia being totally asleep was not to our advantage as she was floppy to say the least. Breck got the wheelchair situated and was coming on board.. Oh and don’t forget we have Starberri on board with us! Add to the drama! We were about to take off when we noticed Malia’s oxygen dropping. Clonazapam can lower the respiratory system, we had to put her on O2 and were using 2 liters. We generally never have to use oxygen when flying with Malia but this time was different. You have to have enough batteries to make the journey and normally we do but with using 2 liters of O2 the batteries were being used up quickly. The last 20 minutes of the flight we ran out of air, but we had managed to wake her up and get her to cough and we were going to be okay!
When we landed it was 7:45 pm we had to meet the wheelchair van rental guy. That went pretty smoothly, except that our phones did not activate when we touched ground. We stayed at a hotel that night, instead of staying with our friend George. His daughter Grace had come down with a cold and we did not want to risk it. Driving inside the airport of DFW is like driving in a city itself. We kinda felt like we had landed on Mars because out in the jungle we drive around 40MPH. Thankful the phones activated and we were able to turn on Waze and get to the hotel by ourselves.
Following morning we slept in, loaded the van and headed to Lockhart to see my parents. Highlight of the trip was stopping by my great grandmother’s home which has now become a historical museum. There was an activity going on that day! It was Pioneer day and people dressed in clothing from the 1800’s. It was pretty neat to tell them that the home was my great grandma’s and that I had lived there from when I returned from Costa Rica in 1995. I had not been back there since she had passed away in 1996. We arrived to Lockhart that afternoon, driving I 35 was an adventure. If you drive 80 you are driving to slow!
Our next stop was Morgan’s Wonderland, the coolest park we have ever known. The park is for ALL KIDS…… Able and disabled. There are changing areas with proper changing tables for big kids and adults. Every ride will adapt a wheelchair. It is sprawled on 35 acres and it is beautiful, welcoming, and so much fun. The water park is the bomb! Malia had a great day that day and fun was had by all…
Next stop my dad’s… We drove to Hope Texas to see my dad and Pat. Love that drive and love their place. It is so beautiful there and peaceful. We had a great visit with them and were happy to be back in Hope. Dad fell absolutely in love with Starberri.
Next stop back to Mom’s in Lockhart, as we are now close to the big benefit weekend. We stayed another two nights with them, then pulled out on Friday and went to San Marcos where we had an airibnb that would sleep our Malia Moore Benefit Team. The benefit was amazing, so many friends and family came out to see Malia. The bands were amazing, the day could not have gone any better. SO GRATEFUL!
On Monday we loaded up once again and headed back to Dallas and stayed with our dear friends George Katie and Grace. We had a great time with them and another highlight was taking Malia to see Joy Barrett, George’s mom who is 93 years old and as sweet as she can be. We had a great visit with her and loved meeting her friends.
We had a few days to rest up before we made our journey back home. Our flight back was early and we had to be at the airport at 7am. It was day 5 again, and Malia had begun to start having more seizures the night before. We were just hoping that if something would happen it would happen before we boarded the plane. 30 Minutes before the flight she had a seizure and we had to use a rescue medicine to get it to stop. Since there are no changing facilities WHATSOEVER at the airport, we had to do this on the airport floor. Still don’t see how in the year 2025 and there are no adequate changing areas for disabled people. Thankfully the seizure stopped quickly, and before we boarded. She slept thru the flight.
When we arrived Liberia, Breck had gone to assemble the chair and Cinthya went to help him. After everyone was off the plane, I asked the flight attendant if Malia’s chair was ready for her. To my surprise, she said that they were having trouble locating Malia’s seat cushion. With no seat cushion we have no chair. Horrified, I began to think how in the world are we going to make it home but more importantly how are we getting off the plane? The seat cushion was not located the attendant called back to DFW and they said the video showed it not being on the jet way. Breck was beside himself as he recalled that during the hustle of getting on the plane and stowing away the items that the cushion got left behind. So the next thing I was in a wheelchair with Malia spread across my lap and that is how we went through the airport. Once we were out we got a taxi van to go to the hotel. The flight attendant on the plane was so kind and empathetic. She too had a son with SN and she understood what we were going thru and promised to find our seat back in Texas. When she arrived back to DFW she called us to tell us she had the seat and was bringing back to Costa Rica the following day on the same flight we were on! Unbelievable. God is so Good! We were able to pack up and head home the following day at 1:30pm!
Overall we had an amazing trip! We are so grateful and so blessed!! Thanks to all who supported Malia and her cause. God Bless You All!
