When you first meet Jo Moore, the thing that strikes you immediately is her bubbly and sunny disposition. You may well be tempted to draw the conclusion that for Jo, life has been an easy ride. Nothing could actually be further from the truth. Having listened to Jo telling her story, I would describe the last decade as an extreme roller coaster experience, from which she has emerged still able to break into frequent bouts of infectious laughter but, more importantly, with an unshakable faith and an unequivocal belief that everything that has happened to her has 'worked together for her and her family's good' (Romans: 8v28).

Jo and husband Brian's middle child, Briony, was born with a rare chromosome disorder. Doctors told Jo and Brian not to expect Briony to survive. However, as Jo puts it, 'God had other plans that would change the course of our lives forever'.

During the first few weeks after Briony's birth, Jo describes her local church as 'fantastic'. There was a continuous supply of meals, babysitters, laundry washers and ironers, you name it; but after Briony had spent the best part of two years in and out of hospital, Jo and Brian realised that they were in for the long haul and so strategies needed to be put in place in order to cope with what was a very stressful situation for the whole family.

Disappointingly, a minority of people's expectations of what these 'strategies' should be were not helpful. They imagined Jo had time to prepare family meals 'en masse' for the freezer and have all the washing and ironing up to date in case of an emergency hospital admission. But how could she possibly do this when she was providing round the clock care for a very sick little girl attached to oxygen cylinders, bringing up most feeds that eventually had to be tube fed?

The majority though, stuck by the family offering practical help and support, including the unexpected provision of a bread-maker that Jo described as a 'Godsend'. Jo remembers a retired RAF Group Captain from the church who arrived on their doorstep one day with a strawberry pavlova and offered to do the ironing!

During this time, a couple from the church, for all intents and purposes, became Jo and Brian's surrogate parents. During a period of serious sickness when Briony was not expected to live, Jo and Brian signed over Power of Attorney of their finances to them. At the time Brian had his own French polishing business, but was unable to sustain it because of the needs of his family. Looking back, Jo now realises that the resulting constant flow of cash was being given by a variety of anonymous donors anxious to support them. This being the case, she felt it was important to find time to write a prayer letter for distribution in the church to keep people up to date with all that was happening.

Despite the struggles, there are special moments in Briony's life that remain firmly imprinted on Jo's memory, like the day when Briony was four years old and she started walking. Up until that time people at church had been used to Briony rolling across the floor at the front. On this Sunday however, she took her first real steps, a major event for which Jo gave thanks to God. It didn't stop there! A now mobile Briony continued to blossom, wandering round the church liberally giving out hugs, 'a ministry', Jo says, 'Briony continues today when she refuses to go to Sunday school and comes into the church with us'.

The first few years of Briony's life made both Brian and Jo very aware of the needs of those caring for children with physical and/or emotional difficulties. In 1995 Brian started to train for a Diploma in Nursery Nursing and a bit later Jo received a (heavenly) prompt to develop a respite care project at the church for parents/carers. When it started, there was one session every month. Four years later there were two sessions in one day with sixteen under 13's on the books and trained workers who provided one to one supervision and care.

As Briony grew, it became apparent that as well as her physical needs, she also had learning and behavioural difficulties. A significant moment came when, at the age of seven, she was found to be moderately/severely deaf. This accounted for at least some of Briony's behavioural issues and also quashed the theory that she had learning difficulties apart from the deafness. Jo and Brian realised that they now needed to explore special educational provision for the deaf.

Eventually Briony secured a place at a school for the deaf in Margate, as a weekly boarder. Both Jo and Brian felt that it would be good for Jade and Andrew, then 9 and 5, to have a relatively 'normal' life during the week and have their sister home at weekends. Jo says, 'How wrong we were!' She described how it tore them all apart to send Briony back each Sunday night, but they convinced themselves that her education was worth it, especially as she was now being taught British Sign Language and was starting to communicate more.

In January 2003 Briony went back to school and created havoc. She was not happy there and all she signed day and night was 'Mummy home Friday” as if to say 'I'm here now but I'm going home on Friday'.

February 2003 saw the whole family up-root and move to Margate to enable Briony to attend the school as a day pupil. God was so clearly at work here, particularly with the house move that was completed in six weeks. Both Jade and Andrew settled in good schools and Brian found a job at the college attached to the school. All they needed now was a church.

After searching the Internet, Jo found an Assemblies of God church that looked promising and, unbeknown to them at the time, was just around the corner. When the family visited New Life Christian Fellowship, the people at the church responded very positively to Briony, and Jo and Brian were excited to find that several people who attended the church had also worked at the deaf school and wanted to develop a ministry with deaf and disabled people. The fact that they all signed was an added bonus!

Since joining the church, Jo and Brian have been involved in working with the youth groups and Sunday school to develop disability awareness as well as setting up a toddler group specifically for children with special needs. Recently the church built a fully equipped sensory room for people with disabilities. Both leaders and congregation have positively embraced the experience and expertise Jo and Brian have had to offer, though Jo says it was Briony's arrival on the scene that prompted people to take disability issues more seriously.

Jo doesn't deny the questioning and 'why me, God?' times, but she also remembers someone from her previous church assuring her that one day they would come to understand the reasons for the path their lives had taken. Despite all the struggle and heartache Jo and Brian describe it as 'an adventure into disability that has changed our lives'. But for Briony, Brian would not be a qualified Nursery Nurse or be working with deaf adults with additional needs and challenging behaviour and Jo would never have been appointed Deaf and Disability Ministry Co-ordinator for the Diocese of Canterbury, a job where her passion to see deaf and disabled people fully integrated into church life, can be fully realised.

When Jo says 'I'm nothing special', in one sense she is right because we are all of intrinsic value and worth in God's sight. But when she adds, almost as an afterthought, 'I just get on with it', clearly this is something special. Even though Jo was at pains to point out to me that she is an ordinary person, she possesses an innate ability to see the positives in situations and take the initiative to act, when she could so easily have been overwhelmed. Has she acquired these qualities through her life experiences? Partly. Would I describe Jo as Wonderwoman? She probably wouldn't thank me for the description, though I personally think she deserves the title (and the outfit!) But one thing we would both agree on is that God has definitely worked in her and her family's lives for the good.

Some of the detail of this article was taken from an article Jo wrote for the April 2005 edition of 'Through the Roof Magazine'.

NB Jo and Brian appear on the CCPAS Training DVD resource, 'Special Children, Special Needs'. The DVD is designed to equip churches to respond appropriately to children with special needs and disabilities.

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