AMY MILLER
Lake Worth

Against all odds, family’s thriving but needs some help

Amy Miller’s tiny, sparsely furnished apartment has one thing she’s always wished for: a happy son.
Now if she could just get her family back on its feet.
Miller, 29, is the single mother of two boys, Clayton, age 4, and newborn Larry. She lives in Lake Worth with Steve Buchanan, Larry’s father, who has cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair.
From the basics, like food and clothing for her kids, to dependable transportation, to help getting her GED so she can get a job, Miller simply wants to take care of her family. She’s a hard worker, but her sporadic work history — she’s had more than two dozen jobs in four years — mirrors her son Clayton’s hospitalizations.
Clayton was born with hypotonia, sometimes called Floppy Infant Syndrome, a condition characterized by decreased muscle tone. Every muscle is affected, but as an infant, Clayton could not suck properly, so he was malnourished, and he couldn’t move his bowels properly, which landed him in the hospital for surgery to remove painful intestinal blockages.
Clayton must get nourishment through a feeding tube and had to have a colostomy. At 3, he weighed only 20 pounds. “It was devastating,” Miller said. “All I cared about was saving my son.”
Miller’s world brightened when she met Steve Buchanan, 39, about a year ago. Buchanan is upbeat, attentive and hopeful. He and Clayton, whom Buchanan would like to adopt legally, “connect on a different level,” Buchanan said.
Soon after meeting Buchanan, Clayton started to thrive. He learned to walk. He gained weight. He learned to speak 10 or 15 words, and he’s doing well at Royal Palm School in Lantana.
Life is still a struggle, but it’s getting better. “This whole kid’s life has been in and out of surgery, but we haven’t been to the hospital in a very long time,” Miller said, knocking on the wooden table at her elbow.
Six months ago, doctors diagnosed Clayton with Hirschsprung’s disease, a condition in which nerves of the intestine don’t develop properly.
Clayton cries through the painful daily procedure to change his colostomy bag, but the family is hoping that his intestines will someday return to normal and that the colostomy can be reversed.
Clayton enjoys the few toys he has, including a big red truck he pushes up and down the hallway. He laughs, then climbs onto Buchanan’s lap and caresses his face. He also loves his new little brother, Larry, now 2 months old.
After the baby was born, Buchanan made sure to give Clayton extra attention. “I didn’t want him to feel loved any less,” Buchanan said. “I’m the only father he’s ever known.”
Miller’s goals for her family are “to keep a job long enough for us to get ahead” and “to become a nurse. My dream has always been helping people,” she said. But she needs to complete her GED before she can apply, and Buchanan needs to be able to care for the children while Miller is at work or school.
For Buchanan, the answer is much simpler: “Normalcy,” he says. “That’s all I want.”
- Janis Fontaine

The Millers’ Wish
A van with a lift for Buchanan’s wheelchair. Updated bathroom and kitchen fixtures suitable for a handicapped person, and a front-loading washer and dryer. A bed Miller and Buchanan can share (Buchanan’s hospital bed is too small for both of them). Handicap-accessible crib and changing table. Basic items, including food, diapers, clothing for Miller and the kids. Gift cards to Publix or Target, or gas cards. Tuition for Amy to get her GED, and for a two-year nursing program. Toys for the kids, and maybe a trip to the spa for Amy.

Nominated by: Adopt-A-Family of the Palm Beaches
Address: 1712 Second Ave. N., Lake Worth.
Phone: (561) 253-1361
Its mission: Adopt-A-Family is dedicated to restoring families in crisis to stability and self-sufficiency by providing access to all-encompassing services for families with children.