Feeding Tube Awareness Week: Closing With Hope

Feeding Tube Awareness Week is coming to a close, and I want to take a moment to reflect—not just on the challenges, the stigma, or the medical realities—but on the hope, the resilience, and the lives that feeding tubes make possible.

Feeding tubes are often misunderstood. Many people see a tube and assume fear, weakness, or failure. Families and individuals carrying tubes face judgment, questions, and even pity from people who don’t understand. But here’s the truth: feeding tubes save lives, and the people who rely on them thrive in ways that most people never see.

Tubes allow people to grow. They allow people to heal. They allow families to focus on connection instead of worry. Tubes give energy to play, learn, and live fully. They allow caregivers to make a choice rooted in love and protection.

For every tubie, every pump, every syringe, and every bag of formula or nutrition: these tools are not barriers. They are lifelines. And in the lives they support, hope grows every day.

Feeding tubes can bring a family back from the edge of fear, allowing parents to focus on joy instead of survival. They can give a child the energy to try new foods safely, to play without exhaustion, to attend therapy and school, and to live fully in a way that would not be possible without the tube.

To caregivers: your love, persistence, and advocacy make all the difference. Tube feeding is hard work—every late-night, every adjustment, every visit to the doctor is an act of protection and devotion. You are not alone.

To tubies themselves: you are strong, resilient, and full of potential. A tube does not define you. Your courage and perseverance do. Every meal, every sip, every feed is a victory.

Feeding Tube Awareness Week reminds us that visibility matters—but hope matters more. Hope that tubes are lifesaving. Hope that children and adults can thrive. Hope that families can find joy in the small victories, and strength in the hard days.

So as this week comes to a close, let’s carry that hope forward. Let’s continue to normalize feeding tubes, amplify the voices of tubies, and celebrate every life that is nourished, protected, and supported by these lifelines.

If you see a tube, see strength.

If you see a pump, see life.

If you see a family navigating tube feeds, see love in action.

Feeding tubes give people the chance to live fully—and that is something worth celebrating every single day. 💜