In New Memoir 'Jabberwocky,' A Dad Realizes Power Of Nonverbal Son With Cerebral Palsy

What’s is it like to raise a child silenced by cerebral palsy? Dr. Steven Gardner details that journey in a new memoir about his son Graham.

“Jabberwocky: Lessons of Love from a Boy Who Never Spoke” refers to Camp Jabberwocky, where Gardner has volunteered as a physician for 25 years, on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.

In the new book, Gardner explains that he and Graham’s mother, Cynthia Gardner, worried as they realized they would have to assist Graham — who could neither speak nor move his limbs — with everything. But then came Camp Jabberwocky, where Gardner realized Graham could do just about everything — wind sailing, skiing, swimming — with a little bit of help.

Gardner joins host Robin Young to discuss his book and his son’s remarkable life, which ended at age 23.

Watch on YouTube.

Book Excerpt: ‘Jabberwocky’

By Steven Gardner

Buying presents for Graham’s counselors was peculiar in a way

because, like all the volunteers at Camp, they expected nothing in return

for their efforts. They unpretentiously embodied Emerson’s notion that

“the only true gift is a portion of thyself.” The one reward they hoped

for was to see their campers smiling and laughing. Fully understanding

that, my hope was that wearing the whimsical bracelets would remind

Graham’s counselors that what they gave him will never be lost and that

a portion of Graham remains in each of them.

Walking up to Beadniks to collect the finished bracelets a few days

later, I found myself smiling at a vivid memory from exactly a year earlier,

Graham’s last summer at Camp. It was a vignette that perfectly epito-

mized the experiences he shared with his counselors over the years. The

incident occurred on our last day on the island, during a sudden torren-

tial downpour, the kind that causes flash flooding.

I was driving up Main Street in Vineyard Haven, past the ice cream

shops and ancient movie theater, windshield wipers oscillating furiously,

when I happened upon Jackie and Kaitlin, Graham’s counselors at the

time, frantically wheeling him in the direction of Camp. They had been

caught in the sudden cloudburst. Jackie and Kaitlin had removed their

jackets and were holding them like a tent over Graham while they were

pelted by enormous drops of rain falling almost as violently as hail. I

pulled alongside the threesome and, through a wall of water, asked if they

wanted to get in the Jeep with me and ride back to Camp.

“No thanks, Dr. Steve, we’re just fine!” shouted Kaitlin.

As they ran up Main Street in the direction of Camp, the two counsel-

ors pushing frantically on either side of Graham’s wheelchair, drenched

as thoroughly as if they had jumped in the harbor, Jackie, Kaitlin and

Graham were—naturally—howling with laughter.

Excerpted from “Jabberwocky: Lessons of Love from a Boy Who Never Spoke” by Steven Gardner. Copyright © 2021 by Steven Gardner. Republished with permission of Made For Success Publishing.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org. [Copyright 2021 NPR]