To the Editor:

Dear friends and family, so much is happening all at once, but I wanted to let you know that both Thomas and Daniel are graduating this year.

Daniel is 21 years old, and he is aging out of public school. I will be self-managing his Developmental Disability Services budget to hire someone (or more) to come to the home and provide whatever vocational activities we decide will be perfect for Daniel. (There were no day programs near us that would accept him due his medical issues.) We continue to try and figure this out as we are going. So, Daniel will be back home with me full-time.

[His brother] Thomas is graduating from high school on Tuesday, June 11. He has been accepted and will be attending Berklee College of Music in the Fall of 2019. Thomas is exceptionally talented, and such a unique kid, that what Berklee had to offer for his future was the best for him.

Daniel is having his own reception on Monday, June 10, from 1 to 4 pm. He will be receiving a diploma and having his own graduation ceremony. (Daniel would not do well in the crowd, and with the length of traditional graduation.)

Daniel is inviting anyone who would like to attend his special ceremony on June 10. We will have snacks and cake, music, and special presentations. So many people have touched our lives and helped us with Daniel along this journey… that we wanted to give Daniel what his other peers had before his program ended three years ago. He has only been at Newtown High School a short time. It’s been a rocky but mostly pleasant experience.

You are being invited to Daniel’s graduation ceremony if you would like to come.

If you would like to send a card to either or both of my boys, they would love that. Feel free to send them to PO Box 3611, Newtown CT, 06470 .

I am still in awe that this time has come already. Sarah Rose,[Daniel’s sister]? She is on the west coast in Law School, at Chapman University Fowler School of Law in Orange, Calif.

As a full-time caregiver, mom, and everything else I do to try and survive, I have lost touch with much of the world. I really don’t know how I am going to do all of this. But, with faith, I shall keep trying with optimism.

Julie and John Hasselberger

35 Bennetts Bridge Road, Sandy Hook          June 4, 2019

Editor’s note: Daniel Hassleberger was born with a rare condition known as polymicrogyria (PMG), a brain malformation caused by the CMV virus contracted in utero.