World Down Syndrome Day is 3-21-21. Down syndrome (Ds), named for Dr. Langdon Down, is the diagnosis for those blessed with a triplicate of the 21st chromosome. We celebrate this amazing group of people every March 21st because God doesn’t make mistakes; the triplicate didn’t slip his attention. In fact some people with Down syndrome will tell those of us with a typical duplicate #21 that we are the ones missing something.
That missing bit of genetic material may be why the world is such a cruel and serious place. People with Ds are vanishing at an alarming rate.
Want to subscribe to receive blog updates sign up today!
Just as life expectancy for people with Ds has expanded to 60-70 years old, babies are being terminated just because they have Ds. Iceland has virtually eliminated births of babies with Ds through abortion. Norway is close behind.
Personally, I was not expecting to have a child with Ds. I wasn’t expecting a baby at all at 42 years old. But 23 years ago, Faith burst into our family and nothing has been the same since. She survived a C-section five weeks premature, weighing just three pounds, and was born with a serious heart defect. We were quickly thrust into the medical world: Faith had closed heart surgery at four months and open heart surgery at eight months, all before hitting the ten pound mark.
When things looked up medically (our fighter would survive!), I learned about physical therapy, speech therapy, feeding therapy, occupational therapy, early intervention, and play therapy. As school age approached, I educated myself on inclusion and decided Faith should be included in a general classroom instead of being segregated in a special classroom. When no Christian schools in our area would accept Faith in kindergarten, which hurt deeply, she enrolled in the public school. What a mission she had there! She touched so many lives of students, teachers, and administrators, and continues to be somewhat of a local celebrity because of all the people she impacted. I’m proud to announce that Faith was the first student with Down syndrome to graduate with a standard diploma in our county!
All of this has been a huge trial to my faith. A lifelong Christian, I was hurt and felt God was punishing me when I thought I had been doing His will. It took some time to get over the hurt, anger, and loss of trust. When the church school our older children attended refused to admit Faith, we left after over 20 years there. But we didn’t leave our faith, and found a church preschool willing to try.
As a young woman, Faith has a boyfriend, she loves her dance classes and voice lessons and has performed in many recitals and plays. With the support of her big sister and brother-in-law, Faith got involved in our original church where she joined the praise team, altar guild, and Bible study (we ended up following her back there). The isolation of the past year has been difficult for this social young woman, but she will bounce back because she’s a fighter.
This post first appeared on Angela Muir Van Etten’s blog on March 22, 2021 at https://angelamuirvanetten.com/. Readers are encouraged to share the post, but are asked to include the website link.