For the Love of Jamie

Cheryl Moore expected a healthy baby to come off the plane from Korea. She got Jamie instead. And then she and her family made a surprising choice.

A A A Comments By Amy Silverman Thursday, Dec 6 2001

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Weekdays are tough on Jamie, who has hours of therapy on top of school, so Cheryl lets him goof around on the weekends, watching his favorite movie, Toy Story, over and over.

As it does so often, talk turns to Jamie's taste in television. Along with Barney, he only likes certain Disney movies and the Discovery Channel, Cheryl says.

Vivian Spiegelman

courtesy of Cheryl Moore

Jamie was in and out of the hospital (top photo) during his first months in the U.S. Above, part of his mom's collection of hospital bracelets.

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"And Unsolved Mysteries," Jacob chimes in. "This kid will watch Unsolved Mysteries. And any kind of sci-fi. You know, this kid, if he watches Scream? Nothing to it. Laughs at it. He knows that everything is fake."

Cheryl's face goes pale. "I don't let him watch that. When did he watch that, Jacob? That's probably the night he stayed up all night screaming," she says.

"No, no, it was during the day," Jacob says. And wait -- it wasn't Scream. "It was Scary Movie. More funny than scary."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," mom says, picking up the banter.

Jacob: "It's a comedy."

Cheryl: "Try to cover it now . . ."

It's a rare moment of normalcy, family members giggling and teasing. Just recently, Cheryl's been trying to get her life back to normal. She went on a date -- just one, she doesn't want to rush anything. Jacob and Colleen do watch Jamie occasionally, Cheryl says, but she knows it's hard work, so she doesn't ask them to do it too often. He requires constant attention and most likely always will.

Jamie's therapy has paid off, she insists; perhaps the biggest difference has come from the dozens of botox injections Jamie gets every several months. Just as the botulism smoothes wrinkles in the foreheads of crinkly socialites, it relaxes Jamie's clenched fists and allows him better mobility. He started horse therapy recently, as well.

But even with the expensive equipment Cheryl finally got the government to pay for, Jamie isn't close to walking. He doesn't crawl.

Cheryl insists he's far more intelligent than his 2-year-old diagnosis.

"We can tell him when we're driving home that we're going to go to McDonald's, and if I pass McDonald's, he throws a fit. Does that tell you anything?"

Only that Jamie acts like a typical 2-year-old. And that Cheryl Moore is in for a lifetime of Barney.