MIDLAND, Texas — Taking your kids to the doctor is normal for most mothers, but what about reaching new heights to get there?
One local mother goes above and beyond the clouds for her kids, taking flights to get to the doctor appointments. Her name is Jenai Bacon, and she calls herself the 'Autism Traveling Mom Jenai' on Tik Tok.
When NewsWest 9 spoke with Jenai Bacon, all three of her children recently had appointments at the Texas Children's Hospital. "We've already gone to Houston six times this year," Bacon says.
The children were diagnosed with Charcot Marie tooth disease, a disease that affects the central nervous system. "A lot of the time, Charcot Marie tooth disease will affect the way they walk. So, they will be prescribed orthotics," Bacon said.
Her daughters, Calista and Tsubaki have to wear ankle-foot orthotics, Calista also has non-verbal autism, with both the autism and CMT often affecting Calista at the same time.
"She can experience pain from her feet and not be able to tell anybody, because the autism has affected her speech," Bacon said.
Often, they feel judged by passengers on planes who do not understand that Calista may be having a meltdown because she cannot express herself verbally.
"That's why I'm here, I'm her voice," says Bacon.
While Jenai is there to be her daughters voice, Calista recently used her voice by singing her mom happy birthday, which can be seen in one of Jenai's Tik Tok post.
Calista and Jenai can be seen sharing that special moment together, but they also share something else that can't be seen so easily, the same genetic mutation that causes autism. "Back in the 1980's, they didn't diagnose that. Even though other people may not think I'm like them, but I am who I am," said Bacon
One thing Jeani does show, is that she's a wonderful mother. And her husband felt that because of that, she needed some much-needed alone time.
"It's like how rare the solar eclipse happens. It's kind of the same with me traveling by myself. It's rare. It rarely ever happens," Bacon said with a laugh.
With that advice, she flew out from Midland to Dallas, and then St. Louis for a solar eclipse getaway.
"It was my first time in St. Louis, I had never been there," Bacon said.
After leaving St. Louis, Jeani traveled to Houston to view the solar eclipse, where she met new friends and share pictures, but there was one thing Jeani could not stop talking about: her kids.
"And of course, I kept talking about my kids and showing pictures, I had to imagine my kids were actually with me, because it's been years since I've traveled by myself."