My little brother was born on March 29 eight years ago. On that same night my parents died. My dad died in the car accident that happened while my mother was in labour and my mother died shortly after. I guess it's a miracle that my brother survived. He was what people call a "coffin birth". What that means is that Mom had already died when Mark was born. To make things worse he was two months early which made him a preemie. He was in the NICU for the first six months of his life. When he was finally released I was an nineteen year old in the first year of college. Due to this I agreed to put Mark in foster care till I could graduate college and get a job. "I'll be honest with you Jason" my family social worker Mary told me "There's a high chance that Mark could be adopted in the two years. With the foster system overflowing with kids needing care the younger ones are more likely to be put up for adoption. Plus most parents want younger kids because they can enjoy a full childhood with them." "I understand that. But please for my sake if he gets an adoption request I want to be notified." Well I guess Mark really wanted to live with me because for two years he was in the system and never even got a sniff at adoption. It probably helped the fact that Mark was declared "medically fragile" by the doctors after the fourth time he ended up in the hospital for his epilepsy. Mark survived though. Finally when Mark was three I obtained custody of him. "Jason Fitzgerald do you think you can provide for your brother Mark?" the judge asked me. "Yes your honour. I wish to fulfill my parents wishes and my duty as his brother to look after him. In their will my parents made it quite clear that I was to raise Mark if anything should happen to them." This was because before Mark was born they were in their fifties and not in great health. Mom had MS and Dad had a bad heart after suffering two surprise heart attacks in his forties. So when they found out Mom was pregnant they put a plan in place that said if they died before Mark was eighteen I would look after him. It actually hadn't been in the plan that it should happen while I was in college but oh well. "And you have a proper job and home?" I affirmed that I did as the apartment I rented was a two bedroom and would allow Mark to have his own room. I had graduated with a degree in Library tech and was able to find a job in our hometown of Uxbridge not far from where we grew up. "Then if no one has any objection I hereby give custody of three year old Mark Fitzgerald to his brother Jason Fitzgerald. Court dismissed."
I had to sell the house I grew up in since it didn't make sense to have a six bedroom for two people but I still attended the church we grew up in and was able to find a cheapish apartment downtown not far from the library. Luckily for me the library had a toddler program that Mark could attend in the morning and then my friend Alex would look after him in the afternoons. This continued for two years until he started school when he was five. Finally he was ready to start school. As it so happened he would be attending the same public school I attended when I was his age. A few things had changed since I was a student such as the school being expanded and made wheelchair accessible. I went to the extended part of the building to where the kindergarten classes were and met his teacher Miss. Finn and explain the situation. "Hi my name's Jason Fitzgerald. I'm Mark's older brother." "Oh I thought you were his dad and just had him young" laughed Miss Finn "No unfortunately our parents died when I was eighteen. I guess you could say Mark was a surprise birth. Just so you know he also has epilepsy and if he has a bad seizure to call me." "Okay. Can I have your phone number? Also what's considered a bad seizure for him?" I gave her my cell and told her that anything longer than five minutes was considered a bad seizure if he had a grand mal and anything longer than ten if he had a petite mal seizure. "Do you know the difference between the two?" I asked her. She nodded and said "I'm sure Mark will be a pleasure to have in class. You don't have to worry. I'm actually CPR trained for epilepsy and special needs kids so we should get along just fine." We arranged for Mark to be in the after school program since I worked till five and then I left.
It was six hours later that I got a call from Mark's teacher. "Hi Mr. Fitzgerald it's Miss Finn. I'm just calling because Mark's had a bad grand mal seizure." "Do you need me to come down?" "I think that would be best. Mark seems really confused and he's complaining about a headache." "Okay I'll be there in half an hour." I hung up my phone and flagged down my boss Maryann. "Hey Maryann. Mark's teacher just called. He's had a rather bad seizure and I need to pick him up and take him home." She looked at me annoyed. "Fine do what you have to do but you'll have to make it up by working the evening shift this week." I nodded and went to leave. "Jason!" I heard someone call. I turned and Bridget my coworker ran up to me. "Listen I'll take the evening shift this week. I know you can'tt really work evenings." "Thanks Bridget." I left and drove to Mark's school.
