Her story is simple.  She came into my life at a time when I was lost, uninspired and just coasting.  I had her when I was 20yo and at first I was scared however I knew that this was meant to be.   I was not married so when my daughter was 3yo, her mother decided to move on to other things. Even though I had my parents help, I was thrown into being a single dad and raising Marella on my own.  She was diagnosed with PDD NOS at the age of 3.  PDD NOS stands for Pervasive Developmental Disability Not Otherwise Specified.  This basically meant that Marella show defeinite signs of Autism but did not show others so she was technically borderline.  As she grew up we made it a point to have her in the best possible schools we could.  Marella really strived on her social relationships so she developed early freindships this way.  She went through the special education program in Cherry Hill from kindergarten all the way through Middle school.  During this time, I made many changes for myself using Marella as my inspiration.  I finished college with my AA in computer graphic design and I also gave up the partying life. 

I also was given another blessing during this time.  I met my future wife online believe it or not.  I didnt know she would be my future wife but I knew that she was the one for me.  Her name is Andrea and she is originally from Springfield IL.  She moved out to New Jersey and my family was complete well sort of. 

We went through some rough times in Cherry Hill so we decided to move to Voorhees for Marella’s high school.  This desicion was a tough one because Marella would lose all of the freindships she made from elemtary school.  Voorhees has a great special education program for high school so it was the perfect fit.  After several apartments, we bought our first home in Voorhees in June of 2009.