THIS IS US

When Your Child Has a Chronic Illness, It Changes Everything

On navigating a road that suddenly feels very bumpy

Andrew Knott
Human Parts
Published in
5 min readFeb 10, 2022

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Photo: Jannes Glas/Unsplash

When you’re a parent, you eventually find some sort of rhythm. It doesn’t happen overnight. In fact, it probably takes years for almost everyone. The addition of another child at any point along the road typically requires a reset. Even if you had found your groove, a new baby will almost certainly require you to find the exit ramp and take a bathroom break. Of course, your nonbaby child will probably need to pee in the grass at this point because making it to a real bathroom is just too much trouble.

But, after all the children have arrived and they’ve grown up a little bit, maybe enough to start preschool or elementary school, there is a chance the road will start to feel a little smoother, like a freshly paved interstate.

It may feel that way, at least, until something goes wrong with one of your children.

We’ve all been living in a pandemic for two years now, so perhaps achieving any type of rhythm remains impossible, but it’s beyond impossible when chronic illness crops up in your family. Sadly, more and more families will likely have to navigate the twisting, pothole-filled roads of chronic illness as the long-term effects of…

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Andrew Knott
Andrew Knott

Written by Andrew Knott

Essayist, humorist, novelist. Dad of three. Editor of Frazzled. Author of the novel LOVE'S A DISASTER (2024). Lifetime 4.0 GPA. Website: AndrewKnottAuthor.com