When Jude C. was seven months old, his mother, Sealja, began noticing things he wasn’t yet doing for a baby his age.
“He couldn’t sit up straight. He would bobble like a bobblehead when you tried to hold him, so you had to hold his head. He would shake when he tried to put something in his mouth, and he would shake when he played with his toys. I knew [that] this was my first baby, but I knew at that time, this wasn’t how they were supposed to be,” she shares.
Convinced he had a stroke in-utero or at some point afterward, Sealja brought Jude to his pediatrician, who immediately referred them to a pediatric neurologist in New Orleans. The doctors discovered that Jude had a brain mass that sat on his cerebellum and brain stem.
“They removed it immediately, and the minute it was removed, he was sitting up straight in the hospital. At 10 months old, he started scooting,” she says.
REACHING MILESTONES
Since the mass was so large, doctors informed Sealja that reaching developmental milestones would be a struggle for Jude. Aware of the challenges ahead, they immediately started him in therapy, and he began to conquer those milestones one by one.
“He didn’t walk until he was 17 months old, which was a task because he was a big baby,” Sealja explains. “He didn’t start babbling until almost two. He didn’t say ‘mama’ until he was three-, three-and-a-half years old.”
Sealja viewed it all as a blessing in disguise. With the pandemic keeping her away from her work as a hairdresser, she was able to be home and fully present for Jude, supporting him closely through each of his therapy sessions.
A NEW DIAGNOSIS
After Jude’s brain surgery, Sealja noticed particular patterns in how he played and interacted.
“He would group everything by color, and then he would line everything up. It’s like his brain just opened up to this new world. I would watch him and think, something’s not wrong, but something’s not quite right,” she recalls.
Trusting her instincts, Sealja began researching these behaviors, and every result she found pointed to autism. Once again, she reached out to Jude’s doctors. After six months of observation and testing at the Boh Center in New Orleans, Jude was officially diagnosed with autism.
Even though she had prepared herself, hearing the diagnosis was crushing.
“All the aspirations that I had for my child in the future…it crushed me, but I hit the ground running. They told me to put him in aggressive therapy immediately, and I put him on every waiting list in Baton Rouge. I was kicking in doors, I was doing all kinds of stuff. His nickname from day one has been Mr. President, so I said, he’s going to be the president, I don’t care what doors I have to kick in.”
Thanks to Sealja’s determination, Jude got the help he needed, and he’s thriving. Her approach to parenting him is simple but powerful: She treats Jude like a grown man.
“That’s how I approach him,” she says. “His IQ is extremely high for a six-year old. Anything you put in front of him, he has to conquer it. He has to master it and meet your expectations.”
SPREADING JOY
Today, Jude is a vibrant six year old who brings joy to everyone he meets. While his mom says he can push you to your limits, she describes him as incredibly giving. He loves playing with and building trains—he has over 450 train pieces—and he enjoys watching basketball with his grandfather.
Jude’s big dream? To build a train that flies in space. And Sealja is determined to support him every step of the way, believing he can achieve anything he sets his mind to, even becoming the first president with autism.
For other parents who may be walking a similar path, Sealja offers heartfelt advice: “Believe the signs, but also believe that there are options and there’s change. My mother used to tell me that I was a non-trusting person, but if there’s one thing I do now, it’s trust the mercy of God. I trust now. I trust the process, because Jude is God’s kisses to my heart every day.”
