Guest Expert Mary Ellen Hardies lives in Columbus, OH and is obviously a very Savvy Auntie.


The day my beautiful niece was born, my life changed. It was the best day of my life. The day doctors told my sister that her new baby might have mild cerebral palsy, was the worst.

I had always heard that a baby changes your life, but I was not prepared for what aunthood did to me. I never knew that a person could love a child so much and so unconditionally. The second I heard that something might be wrong, I went into research mode.

I had to know everything to look for, I had to know what might happen in the future and most of all I had to know what I could do that instant to help. The answer was, not much.

My sister first noticed something was wrong when Kinsley would get her arm stuck while rolling over. Then, her crawling wasn’t coming along and once she did get up on hands and knees, her left hand was always folded under. She was never good at breast feeding and it was not a good experience for my sister.

As the aunt, I did what I could, which mostly meant I brought food, washed dishes and cleaned the kitchen whenever I was there. I tried to be available whenever my sister needed me and  I try to go visit every weekend. I wanted and still want my sister to know that I would do anything for her baby.

Thankfully, Kinsley’s muscles developed, though slowly. The doctors said cerebral palsy was not a concern and that it was likely just some developmental delays. I breathed a sigh of relief and thought, “Thank God, we are in the clear.”

Not quite.

As my niece continued to grow, my sister started to notice that Kinsley wasn’t eating properly. She was more than a year old and was still choking on her water and manipulating her food more than she was chewing it.

After months of trying to get someone to listen to her a doctor finally had an answer and did a swallow study. Kinsley was aspirating her liquids. Her throat muscles were weak and weren’t closing off her airway. The doctor told my sister he was surprised she hadn’t had pneumonia yet; in that sense, we were very lucky. The swallow study also revealed that Kinsley needed to have thicker liquids. My little baby niece now drinks water that has the consistency of hair gel. My sister watches her like a hawk with every sip and bite she takes, all while managing her second pregnancy.

Because Kinsley could still choke at anytime and likely won’t grow out of these swallowing issues until she is a little bit older, my sister asked that we all learn CPR. I’m the only family member that lives in the same town and I absolutely wanted to be prepared for anything.

I went online the morning my sister asked and signed up for the next CPR class I could get into.

The first thing they asked us in the class was. “Why are you here?”

My answer, “I’m doing it for Kinsley.”


**note: Fewer than 10% of Americans choose to learn CPR. 400,000 people die every year because of cardiac arrest. Getting certified takes less than 4 hours and less than $50 in most places. I’d like to think my life is worth at least that much and I know my niece’s is.


Published: February 23, 2011