Replies to 'Raising a Special Needs Child'

I have a 12 yr old who is  mentally delayed, has seizures, doesnt talk, and is unable to be potty trainned at this time. He also had some behavioral problems. His favorite thing to do when he became aggressive was to pull and yank peoples hair. Its hard enough with 2 parents raising a kid like this but for yrs. I had to raise both my kids as a single parent with their dad only  taking them every other weekend. I couldn't  work a normal job becasue none of the daycares in my areas wanted to deal with a child like him. I finally got a job as a care giver where I could have my kids with me, but it didnt pay much so I struggle finacally. After my depression and stress got so bad to the point its affected my health mentally, physically, and emotionally I finally made the decision I couldnt do it alone anymore and  had him put into a group home for kids with special needs. He is close to me and I can see him when I want to, but Im not 24/7 tied down and can now focus my energies of repairing myslef and my relationship with my youngest son. I am currently in school getting ready to start my 3rd quarter. But still have alot of issues that need to be dealt with and taken care of. I dont get much support from my family who lives in Ohio and I am in Indiana.  I have to admit there have been times other than my high school yrs. in which i thought about taking the easy way out but something has always kept me going. At least now instead of just trying to hang on by the skin of my teeth I actually feel like im making small headway up the ladder. I think the biggest thing is I have to work on, is before when I had no other support I was using food my crutch and I am now the biggest I have ever been. I dont like it.. but dont feel this is something I can battle alone anymore.  The one thing I can say is never give up, there is always hope somewhere.