A Boy’s Journey to Holistic Healing

I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord. 
Psalm 40:1-3.

Bayo was young when his mother died. Death is always the most difficult for those it leaves behind but for Bayo, her death meant his removal from everything he knew. Bayo was born with cerebral palsy, a condition that limits his mobility and necessitates constant care. Bayo's father, unable to both look after him and work to support their family, sent Bayo to live with his grandmother in another town. 

Unfortunately, after moving in with his grandmother, Bayo's situation worsened as he was not being cared for properly. He grew continually weaker, no longer able to digest food or take deep breaths, his body succumbing to the weight of stress and fear he often felt from being isolated and mistreated. Perhaps more hopeless than his physical pain though, was his family's unawareness of his circumstance, despite Bayo's best attempts to signal for help whenever they would visit. 

But praise be to God that RiverCross came to Bayo's hometown, and in 2019 his stepmother was one of the first to receive training on trauma informed care. She realized the very behaviors her stepson had portrayed for years were cries for help. Upon this realization, they quickly made arrangements to bring Bayo home.

Bayo, now 17, lives in the care of his father and stepmother, and is in the process of healing both physically and emotionally with a trauma informed support group. 

*Although the stories we share are true, identifying details have been changed.