Utah Family Voices

Hello!  Let me take this opportunity to introduce myself.  My name is Christine Evans, I am a parent consultant for Utah Family Voices and I have worked here for 4 years.  I have been married for 16 years to a wonderful husband, father and pretty darn good handy man.  We have 4 children; Cassidy,14, Caitlyn, Camryn, 12, and Luke, who is 8 years old.  Our journey starts with the birth of my sweet twin girls, Caitlyn and Camryn in December of 1999.  They were born at 23 week gestation and both were pretty big for how early they were, 1lb 8oz and 1 lb 15oz, respectively.  Unfortunately our twin A, Caitlyn, passed away when they were 2 weeks old due to the complications of her premature birth.  Camryn, however, was a little fighter in the NICU and, after a long stay of 5.5 months, she came home and so we began.  Camryn was a pretty sick little baby, she was in and out of the hospital for the first 2 years of her life, spending her very first birthday in the hospital. She now is a sassy little 12 year old girl who just started Junior High!  She does live with some pretty complicated disabilities; Cerebral Palsy, Epilepsy, and Hydrocephalus, along with a whole host of medical equipment and supplies; Wheelchair, G-tube supplies, Stander, walker, bath chair, communication system etc, etc.  All that being said, she is considered total care and as hard as it may seem, she has been the biggest blessing to our family!  I love working at Utah Family Voices!  This opportunity to be able to work with families who are going through similar struggles related to having a child diagnosed with a disability or special health care need, has been so wonderful.  My favorite part of the job is talking one on one with the parents and helping them navigate this complicated system.  I also have loved teaching our newest project the ABC's of Autism!   I have included some pictures of my family.  The most recent  picture is our family and another picture of Camryn and our family beagle.  Then I also included a picture of my oldest and youngest hugging because we all know how "loving" siblings can be toward one another :)  All kidding aside siblings is one of my passion when talking to families because I realize all to often how hard it is for those siblings of our special health care kiddos.  Thank you for visiting, we hope you are having a wonderful day! - Christine