Demi-Leigh Tebow remembers sister, who had special needs: ‘Franje’s life… was so significant’

Demi-Leigh Tebow shared a video of her younger sister on Instagram last month in which she shared the challenges, lessons, and blessings of having a sibling with additional needs.

“Today would have been my little sister Franje’s 19th birthday,” she wrote on February 27. “Today we celebrate her in heaven, where she is fully loved, fully known, and fully healed!”

In an interview regarding her book, “A Crown that Lasts,” Tebow explained:

Franje was born with severe special needs and disabilities. She essentially was born without a cerebellum. There were multiple complications that came with that. But Franje’s life … was so significant and so special. … I don’t think that we would fully know the extent of the purpose that her life has had until one day I get to meet my maker and be with her again.

That was a hard thing for me to accept. It was hard for me as a teenager, especially, to work through, you know, “Lord, why is this happening to my sister? Why can she not be healed?” And I was questioning the Lord over and over and over again. It rattled my faith.

With time and prayer, Tebow decided she had to make a change. “And instead of saying, ‘God, why?’ I am going to ask you, ‘Lord, where? Where are you in this situation? Show me.’ And we serve a kind, loving, generous, gracious father. And He is going to show us where He is when we seek Him.”

She wrote that Franje taught her “many lessons in love, loss and grief.” Yet, beyond those, the greatest lesson she learned was, “Instead of asking God ‘Why?’ Try asking God ‘Where?'” She encouraged others to do the same.

Franje was just 13 years old when she died in 2019, She had a very rare condition called cerebellar agenesis, in which the brain forms without a cerebellum, which is responsible for motor control of the body as well as attention, language, and coordination. Without it, a person will likely have developmental delays and difficulty moving.

As Live Action News previously reported, a study done at Tel Aviv University and the University of Haifa showed that though having a child with a disability puts “unique demands on all family members,” there were also significant advantages as well. Researchers said, “We found that children with siblings with intellectual disabilities scored higher on empathy, teaching and closeness and scored lower on conflict and rivalry than those with typically developing siblings.”

Siblings of children with disabilities, like Demi-Leigh Tebow, have more empathy for others because of their experiences sharing life with those who have special needs. Every life is valuable.