Life — continued from Page 44
they depended on each other. Due to the nature of her hearing loss, Mary could adjust to the tone and pitch of Cameron’s unique voice, and as a result, she could
hear and understand him better than her other children. As Cameron’s vision deteriorated,
Mary’s bond with Cameron became even
closer because he needed her. Cameron’s brother, Colen Cuthbertson, testified that during this time period, Mary “notched up her concern and her care even more” and became more protective as “their bond got closer and closer because his limitations had increased or deteriorated.” The jury heard the testimony of a
board-certified psychiatrist, who explained the uniqueness of Mary and Cameron’s relationship: If you have a dependent child, in
a sense they don’t grow up. This was a family of five and one, Cameron, had special needs because of his visual losses, and as a consequence, a mutual- ly dependent relationship occurred. As a result, Mary Cuthbertson developed a special role, in a sense, she anticipated this ongoing relationship to sustain her. She was, in a sense, still able to get her needs in terms of being a mother and taking care of someone realized in her relationship with her son Cameron dif- ferent than having, you know, adult children who move out of the home and you see periodically. . . . He became progressively more
visually impaired over the course of years. During that time, in some ways he became more dependent on his mother, but yet maintained a level of independence that’s still really quite striking . . . . He assisted his mother, who became progressively hard of hearing. So it’s the situation where often she would be his eyes and he would be her ears. They would go shopping together. She would take him to his doctor appointments. They were very, very close. They lived together since, you know, his birth. He had always been there with her and because of this, she had – he was a companion. He was a confidant. He was there for her in a way that the other children weren’t. It was a very special relationship. As both she and the children I interviewed pointed out, it was a different relationship. It gave her a sense of meaning in her life. She was there to continue taking
See Life, Page 50 48 — The Advocate Magazine JANUARY 2012
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