Primrose was born in China with congenital glaucoma, which turned her eyes completely silver.
For the first 23 months of her life, it went untreated and caused her a lot of pain and misery. She was unable to see, and a hearing impairment also meant that she couldn’t hear well. Primrose’s mother abandoned her, and she was sent to an orphanage.
Life wasn’t any better in the orphanage.
She was alone, never learned to drink from a bottle, and was neglected most of the time. She could barely hold her head up and had never known love or comfort in her short life.
On the other side of the world, Eryn was raising two children with her husband, Chris. She just happened to be scrolling through photos on Facebook when she came across the photo of Primrose. Her heart broke for the baby, and something inside her told her that she was meant to be the child’s mama.
They flew across the world to adopt the baby.
They struggled with coming up with the money for the adoption, and when they first got to her, she was feverish and sick. At times, they weren’t sure if Primrose was healthy enough to make it back home. The family and the baby pulled through, and they were able to travel back home together.
After Primrose had lived with the family for a little over the month, Eryn wrote a tribute to her new daughter.
She wrote:
“These are mama eyes that only shut for 4 hours last night. And hands that held and patted a baby’s back for 45 minutes straight just to constantly remind her ‘Someone is here.’ A heart that is sure she is screwing up somehow at least 1,000,000 times a day. A head full of questions, anxiety, and fear. She is a mess. A total mess. And life is flipped on its very head because…
“Primrose Lin.”
“This is a baby who, just 38 days ago, didn’t know the comfort of being held most of the day. She didn’t know that someone would come to her when she called out in her sweet baby language. She didn’t know that she could eat from a bottle without breathing the liquid straight into her tiny lungs. She had no idea that a big sister could cuddle you better than anyone and a big brother could tickle you into fits of giggles.
“This is a baby who, just 38 days ago, got a mama and a daddy. Whom she cannot see or fully hear. Whom she doesn’t totally understand. Who took her away from everything she knew, however bleak that reality was, and planted her straight in the middle of a crazy whirlwind of a family. A mama and daddy who watched her fight for her life, who wept tears over her feverish body, who fought through third world hospitals and pretended to be brave – because… that’s what mamas and daddies do. We move in the face of all the fear because of our kids, don’t we?”
Primrose changed Chris and Eryn’s life for the better.
Although the baby still has a long way to go, she is making progress each day. She is learning to trust her new family. She has learned that when she cries, someone comes to comfort her or make sure her needs are met. She has learned the love of parents and a brother and a sister, and she knows that she is safe.
She spent so much time being alone and not bonding with anyone that getting her to learn to love and be loved has been a challenge.
The more the family loves and nurtures Primrose, the easier it will become for her. While she may always deal with vision and hearing problems, there is still a chance that she can live a completely normal life with a family that loves her.
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