Disabled mom fighting to keep her son

[tonysam]

Kaney O'Neill knows she has limits as a mother.

The 31-year-old Des Plaines woman cannot walk, move her fingers independently or feel anything from the chest down. A decade ago, O'Neill was a Navy airman apprentice when she was knocked from a balcony during Hurricane Floyd, leaving her a quadriplegic.

When she discovered she was pregnant last December, she felt fear and joy, a journey the Tribune chronicled in August. She quickly embraced the opportunity to raise a child, feeling she had the money and family support to make up for her paralysis.

David Trais, her ex-boyfriend and the 49-year-old father of their now 5-month-old son, disagreed that she was up to the challenge.

In September, Trais sued O'Neill for full custody, charging that his former girlfriend is "not a fit and proper person" to care for their son, Aidan James O'Neill.


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[proud2BlibKansan]

1. If there is always another adult there then what is the problem?

I side with the mom.

[tonysam]

3. I do, too. The child has a good home life.

The dad sounds like a bigot.

[TheMadMonk]

7. There may be now. There may not be later.

I'm sure we've all heard or seen stories of sub-teen kids who are full time carers for a disabled parent.

I'm not saying take the kid, but it's not quite so cut and dried as you seem to think.

[tonysam]

8. Who's to say the father won't wind up disabled?

Prejudice against the disabled is rife.

[TheMadMonk]

10. The predjudice isn't against the disabled. It's against the system...

...that decides to save a few bucks, even if it means leaving kids to take on tasks that most adults would balk at if given a conscience free choice.

[katandmoon]

2. She can't feel anything from the waist down? That doesn't make her ex sound like a fit parent either

[Bobbieo]

4. What kind of man would impregnate such a disabled woman?

She can feel nothing from the waist on down - Sex must be a real fun thing for her!!!

[TheMadMonk]

5. You might be surprised. The vagus nerve bypasses the spinal cord.

This woman may or may not be able to experience sexual pleasure. Others certainly can.

[tonysam]

6. And he can't feel anything from the neck up, apparently. n/t

[varelse]

9. From the chest up

or maybe he doesn't have a heart :shrug: