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
Baby Kaleb, we send you our love,our prayers and our healing light.
May a smile follow you to sleep each night,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
and be there waiting,,, when you awaken.
Sincerly, Bill Vanderbilt
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