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Keith and Doreena are originally from Texas. They met on a blind date when Keith was in his senior year at Southern Methodist University. Doreena jokes saying she was told that Keith was tall dark and handsome. And Keith said she was surprised when he came to the door. At that time Keith had another girlfriend, and didn't see again, but after six months, they were engaged and were married in 1973. They have three children: Luke, Jake and Katie,

Katie was born prematurely, with no signs that anything was wrong. It wasn't until several months later that Doreena noticed that Katie wasn't holding her head erect. They took her to the doctor and were referred to a specialist for a more intensive examination. Ultimately, the specialist basically said that she was neurologically devastated, and the best thing to do would be to put her into some type of permanent long-term care facility. "That was probably the most dramatic point of our life up to that point and time--receiving that message. Here we have two young boys, who wanted to enjoy life with a lot of life in front of them, and the daughter that Doreena wanted--what do you do with a message like that?"

The experience was literally emotionally and physically a challenged for the Bralys, and on their marriage. They realized that they needed a life with each other where they could enjoy each other and go out and do things. So they decided to compromised part of the program in order to get that part of their life back. Because of a job opportunity Keith was given through the company he was with, they decided to stop the program and moved to Bolder, Colorado (which was very progressive for people with disabilities) and start a new chapter in their lives.

After devoting a considerable amount of time and effort to Katie's physical therapy, Keith and Doreena realized that they were seeing little progress. However, all was not lost. Something very beautiful was created, and that was as the Bralys described: Katie's beautiful spirit. "All the people with their loving care, when they would come in, had this attachment to Katie and love for her that were catered through their hands and their voices. They were very much coaches and advocates for her every moment of every day. She had that degree of stimulation, of love and care from people of every walk of life, who volunteered their time, and were changed themselves through that experience." Their two boys Luke and Jake were living normal lives, but were also involved in the experience. They witnessed a lot of love and compassion, and two parents who cared and did everything they could to improve the quality of life for their sister.

So, Doreena basically threw herself into an exhaustive process of trying to figure out what the answer was to make Katie better. She did tireless, non-stop research. And found a place in Philadelphia known as the Institute for Human Potential. A nontraditional environment where they study people like Katie, and basically give them the same type of opportunities that a normal baby would have, and to create as much of learning capacity and bodily function as the individual can possibly have. It was basically replicating crawling, breathing and replicating bits of other information. To accomplish this they were able to recruit up to 100 volunteers to come to their home and work with Katie seven days a week, every hour from 7:30 in the morning to 7:30 in the evening. There were devices used giving Katie the manipulation of experiencing the sensation of crawling as a normal baby. Doreena noted that, "Unless a baby crawls, they don't develop the ability to read as well." This type of therapy was designed to develop a path way in Katie's brain to be able to learn these things and to pattern her body.

Keith and Doreena are two very special people. They have been married for 37 years, and have spent most of their marriage learning through hands on experience a very powerful human virtue. If we all could learn this virtue it would definely increase the quality of life for all people. That virtue is Value.........

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"This is a challenging life. It is a burden of precious life that God entrusted us with. Its heavy, it's difficult, it's challenging. Without God the situation might seem senseless; there is no purpose at all in it, but with God it changes everything," shared Doreena. Katie has been given life experiences that many people in her situation will probably never receive. She benefits from a mother who has a passion to make her life the best it can be. Who’s done enormous amounts of research and altered her career to invest in her life. “Katie has basically been treated as a princess. She’s experienced school in a cool way, going to the theater, the movies, church, athletic events, foreign foods, dancing, boyfriends and other interesting things."

The next chapter in their life involved different medical procedures through a series of operations to give Katie relief in her body and increase the quality of her life, by working with her muscular skeletal system to relieve pain in her body and by moving her Salivary glands to the back of her throat to stop her from drooling. Keith and Doreena also understood how to work with the educational system, which allowed Katie to attend school in a regular classroom setting, in which the schools had to accommodate her educational and physical needs. And so Katie was given the opportunity to learn and grow and the experience of classmates as friends. Keith and Doreena did everything they could to give Katie the best life experience as possible.

Keith and Doreena consider themselves as somewhat opposites. "Doreena has an academic, scientific background. Science is not necessarily a forte of mine. Doreena is very methodical; she'll read an instruction booklet from start to finish; I will just open the box and start trying to figure out how does this all goes together, and if I get frustrated I might look at the instruction book," said Keith. "The way Doreena does things is more spontaneous." Keith also said, "I believe that God is in control of everything. So I put my faith in God and let Him direct me to opportunities. I have a pretty simplistic view of our life here on earth."

In 1981, their daughter Katie was born, and little did they know, Doreena had a condition known as "Placenta Previa", and should have been off her feet during her pregnancy with Katie. Her obstetrician at that time was unavailable to treat her. So he turned her over to a young obstetrician with little experience who did not know how to diagnose what was going on with her, and did not prescribe bed rest for her condition. Doreena in her methodical plan full way wanted to get the house prepared, was up on her feet constantly preparing the nursery and doing everything she could to get things ready for their new baby, did not know she was suppose to be off her feet.

Love and Value

The Braly family now lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Katie is an adult now and in this chapter of their life they are teaching her how to live an independent life. Katie is fortunate and very much loved by her mother, father and two brothers. She is a beautiful young lady with hopes and desires like everyone else. And that’s because she’s experienced the powerful human virtue that her parents learned through the gift of her life: Value. This is a family that truly understands the value of every human being and even though it is not an easy life for them; they would rather endure all the hardship to live life with her than without her. And that's how they make it work.