This bulletin was sent out earlier this week, but due to a MySpace error, did not go through.
Please read below:
Dear Friends of the Help Kaleb Page,
It is with joy and disappointment that we at the Help Kaleb Page post this bulletin. Joy in the fact that Kaleb's body is making progress, but disappointment that the actions of a small number of people could cause so much hurt. The responsible party has compromised Kaleb's safety and the safety of others.
Please do not let this discourage you all, this family NEEDS your prayers and support! PLEASE continue to pray for Kaleb's recovery, his mommy and daddy, the upcoming trial, and even those intending harm for the Schwade family.
We will be removing the PayPal button as per the family's request. We, at the Help Kaleb Page, encourage you to continue to send your encouraging emails and cards.
We apologize for the delay in sending last week's update, several of us were away from our computers. We plan on continuing to send out updates on Kaleb and his progress- as we receive them.
We are still in the process of selecting a family to feature next. Again, we will continue to offer support to the Schwade family in various ways. We are merely expanding our efforts to reach more families in need. Our goal is to change the world around us- one family at a time!
Moving forward, we will be doing things differently at the Help Kaleb Page. We will be consulting with lawyers and accountants in order to ensure that everything is done legally and properly. We will also be looking into fundraising efforts for the Help Kaleb Page to cover some of these costs. Portions of the proceeds will go toward background checks for prospective families, lawyer & accountant fees, etc. The remainders will be donated to families in need, foundations, and possibly toward supporting efforts to further stricter legislation for child abusers. HOWEVER: Any monies collected as donations for the families we feature will go 100% toward that family and their needs.
We look forward to working together with you all to help more families in need!
God bless you all, and PLEASE remember to PRAY for the Schwade family!
-Help Kaleb Page
www.myspace.com/helpkaleb
Below are updates from earlier in the week...
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Monday, August 20, 2007
Taking a Breather
For the last three months we have gone through every emotion imaginable. We have had our hearts torn out and ripped in half. We have felt hopeless, scared and lost. We felt betrayed by someone with whom we trusted our most prized possession (our son) with. We felt as if a part of us had died and would never come back…then all of you came along ane lifted our spirits. You encouraged us in times that we thought we couldn't do it anymore. You prayed for our Kaleb. You prayed for comfort for our family. You were an encouragement to a family you have never met with gifts, donations and prayers. You opened your arms and comforted us. All of this we are SO VERY THANKFUL FOR. We have cried and thanked God so many times for the generosity and love that has been shown to our family. We wished that we could meet each and every one of you personally and thank you. We'd love for Kaleb and your children to run around and scream and have fun, while we share a dinner and chit-chat like friends do, because each and every one of you have become our "friends". And because you are our "friends", we hope that you understand why we have decided to stop blogging for a while.
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It was brought to our attention last night that one of the forums posted not only our address and phone number, but other members of our family's addresses too. This has crossed the line completely. They say that they are doing all of this "investigating" for "Kaleb's Sake". All that this has done is compromised the safety of EVERY PERSON IN OUR FAMILY, ESPECIALLY KALEB! We don't understand how putting Kaleb in harm's way is in his best interest as they claim. We are completely stunned by the words and LIES that have been put out there about our family. We have never attacked anyone on myspace. We have never slandered anyone. We have not lied to or about anyone. These people are not trustworthy, very manipulative and have continuously attacked my family, which includes Kaleb, via myspace, forums, emails, etc. They have tried to break up our marriage by making fake profiles and sending racy messages to Josh. They have called us murderers and threatened Kaleb and our families. They have harassed our families, friends, and Dianne, our spokesperson. They have tried to have Kaleb taken away from us by calling child protective services and filing FALSE reports. They have published our PRIVATE medical information. They have attacked those involved in the fundraisers with harrassment. They have added an unnecessary element of stress into our family's life with cruel and unnecessary comments and have attempted to tear us apart. Why?! WHY do they feel like the only way to have their opinions heard is to tear apart our innocent family? Why are they trying to crumble Kaleb's support system if they "CARE" so much about him? They do these things in an EVIL manner. A minority of people, yes, I know… However when they do something like posting the address's of a VICTIM and HIS FAMILY… That is where we HAVE to draw the line. WE WILL NOT HAVE OUR FAMILY IN HARM'S WAY. Everything that has been said are lies. PERIOD. We believe God will protect us but this has gone too far. …. You are in NO WAY supporting Kaleb by bashing the people who love him more than anyone! We could easily do the same to the person who has been arrested for our son's injury and her family, however, we choose not to lower ourselves to this standard…it is not who we are and not in the best interest of our son or her children. And we expect those who support us to act in the same manner.
TO THOSE ON THE FORUMS ON BOTH SIDES: People are out of control. EVERYBODY needs to stop and rethink what this is REALLY all about…an innocent child who is suffering. Calling people names and posting personal information such as addresses and names of children is unacceptable. We do not want our SONS NAME or OUR NAME to be affiliated with any of this bickering, bashing, name calling, lies and cursing that is being done on both sides. This unacceptable behavior has forced us to make the decision to stop everything and give it ALL a rest.
Thank you to all who have been supportive of us, but we aren't accomplishing anything other than creating opportunity for more problems evidenced by what we are seeing now. We do not have the energy and the strength to deal with all this and tend to our son who needs our full attention. We have to make a decision that will be good for our son. The things we have seen just sickens us. WHAT POSSESSES people to be so malicious and evil and call it good?
To the majority of you out there who didn't participate in this nonsense, our apologies but we know you will understand that we can no longer share Kaleb's story and endure these attacks and have to take a break and tend to our son who is the most important thing in our life. Things need to calm down. OUR FAMILY DOES NOT DESERVE TO BE PUT AT RISK for the sake of soap opera drama and the public's entertainment. It is physically, spiritually and mentally exhausting. Please understand where we are coming from. Please put yourself in our shoes. We wish that it didn't come down to this but it has.
Please Please Please pray for these people. Please continue to pray for my son. Prayer is all we need. We need nothing else.
The PO Box and Paypal donation accounts are being shut down.
If you would like to make a donation to help Kaleb and those who are suffering like him, make a donation to the National Shaken Baby Alliance in Kaleb's name, directed to the Family Support Section. The information is as follows:
The Shaken Baby ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Alliance
Family Support Division
4516 Boat Club Road, Suite 114
Fort Worth, TX 76135
www.shakenbaby.org
Thank you to all who have supported us in every way. We will never be able to express our gratitude enough. Kaleb's story got so big, so fast, too fast!… The most important thing that all of this has done is brought awareness to SBS, possibly saving another child's life. Thousands of people have seen what damage is done when a child is shaken. We hope that because Kaleb's story is so well known that it will save another child's life and provide education to everyone. This would be the best gift of all, that Kaleb's life has not been in vain. We would never wish the heartache and brokenness that we have felt on anyone. We are going through the most difficult time in our lives. We have to depend on God to make this evil act right. We trust that in Him, it all will be made right.
Our son's life has a price tag of $5,000.00 which isn't fair. We pray that justice will be served, and to the fullest extent of the law.
We need to advocate to change the laws. There needs to be tougher penalties for child abusers. They should have to register just like sex offenders do. They should be put away for a lot longer time then just 30 years. This whole experience has changed our direction in life completely. We want to do all we can to get awareness out there. We want to start volunteering with our local SBS alliance. If you don't have a SBS alliance in your home town, then create one. We want to be there for families that go through this the same way that all of you have been there for us. By taking this breather, we are able to regroup and focus on what is most important, our son, sharing his story with others, and making people aware of the tragedy we have been through and to be there for those who experience it as well. It will take time to get through our own crisis to be able to give to others…..we are learning daily about SBS and need to resolve our own difficulties before attempting to help others.
All of you who have stuck by our family through this stressful time, we THANK YOU! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all that has been done for our baby boy. One day we will tell Kaleb about how he was once America's baby. We will tell him about all who loved him from thousands of miles away. We will update you again when all is calm and we can be adults in interacting and having our opinions without risking our family's lives and the safety of our children.
Thank you
Kristy, Joshua, and Kaleb Schwade and Family
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Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Doc APpt.
Kaleb's Appointment went good.
I thought it would be like his hearing appointment where they told me that he couldn't hear. So Iprepared myself to hear that he couldn't see also. The appotintment was to see if he still had retinal hemorrhaging (bleed in the retinas of the eyes). When he first took Kaleb to the hospital when he was initially shaken he had VERY BAD retinal Bleeds. This is how they deteremined that he was shaken (VERY HARD) amongst a bunch of other things. They were VERY BAD BLEEDS. I had two helpers with me (My nephews whom I was babysitting) that were SO HELPFUL! It was so cute becuase they were asking a million questions like little boys do... Questions that were good questions that I didn't even think to ask. This doctors appt was the smoothest by far.
SO we went in the room and the tech shined a little light in Kaleb's eyes and he only responded on one side.Keep in mind that Kaleb is still trying to get used to the Valium so he was very drowsy. So they dialated his eyes and the doctor came in. She did a whole series of different tests and finally after like 15 minutes of different lights being shined in his eyes she was done. She siad that becuase of the "heavy sedation" her evaluation wasn't completely done. She said that he DEF could see light and dark but she wans't sure about anything else. She said that there is still a little blood in the retinas that would also make it very hard to Kaleb to see and control his eyes. She couldn't comment on the Cortical Blindness because he has to have a special EEG-like test done to determine how severe that is.
SO HE
CAN
SEE LIGHT AND DARK!
I knew this before the appt. I just get so overwhelmed with all the negativity that the doctors display that I automatically think that they are going to tell me something horrible. That doesn't mean that I BELIEVE what they say but still... You can only take so much pessimism(SP). I just need to stick to my gut feeling on everything! KALEB WILL BE ALRIGHT! HE WILL RECOVER! GOD LOVES HIM TOO MUCH TO LET SOMETHING AND SOMEONE EVIL SET HIM BACK. I know he will succeed in so many areas. I have faith in him and most importantly faith in GOD!
