Dani's Story: A Journey from Neglect to Love - Rilegato

KAY WEST is a veteran print media journalist who has also written three books.

"The photo of the little girl was grainy black and white, even a little blurred. There was no pretty background, no fun props, and no cute outfit. Her bangs were uneven and jaggedly cut, and she wasn't smiling. She had a vacant, distant look in her eyes. But it was those eyes that pulled me in and grabbed my heart. I looked at my husband and said 'Bernie, she needs us.' He answered, 'I know.'"

When young Danielle was rescued from a dark room in her mother's filthy, roach-infested home, she spoke only in grunts and yelps, walked on her tiptoes, was not toilet-trained, and drank from a baby bottle. She was almost seven years old.

This book shares the deeply moving story of how Diane and Bernie Lierow were led to this remarkable little girl and became determined to overcome every obstacle so that she would become their daughter and receive the care and love that all children deserve.

A special ed classroom at Sanders Memorial Elementary School in Land O' Lakes, Florida, was where they would first meet Danielle, the child whose photo had captivated them at an adoption event several weeks earlier. They were filled with excitement, but also trepidation: What if they saw her and decided that she was just too much for them to handle? What if she harmed their son Willie, or took too much of their attention away from him? What if this young girl who drooled, bit her own arms and hands, and did not engage with others, threw a tantrum at the sight of them?

Once the Lierows entered the classroom, their fears fell away in a moment that was as surprising as it was simple?the moment when a little game with a Slinky toy established their first bond with Dani and marked the beginning of their new life together as a family.

Even more remarkable is what has happened since?how the Lierows learned to satisfy their daughter's craving for contact and stimuli, how Dani began to overcome her severe learning disabilities, how she learned she no longer had to steal food, and how their son Willie may be the greatest brother ever.

Charting a perilous journey from hardship to hope, love, and a second chance at life, Dani's Story is a book you cannot put down and, like the girl in the photo, you will never forget.