Last autumn, while on a family camping trip, we noted an elderly man frequently peering in our direction. We later overheard him discussing with friends how he and his wife had a son born with Down syndrome many years ago. While crying, he shared the story of his son's birth with us. He was told their newborn baby should be institutionalized and not taken home to be raised with his family. His son later died at the age of nineteen alone in an institution. His parents had never visited him.
Our hearts break when we begin to imagine what this gentleman was feeling as he watched our family having breakfast, observing how each of us interacted with Sammy. While we have our challenges, we could not imagine our lives or our family without Sammy. We are well aware of how different things were not all that long ago and unfortunately how they remain in many other countries today.
Today is World Down Syndrome Day, 3/21/2011! The purpose of this day is to encourage awareness and understanding of Down syndrome world wide. This is an exciting time to be raising a child born with Down syndrome. On this special day, we encourage each of you to learn something new about Down syndrome. We have created links on this page and hope you will click on one and spend a few moments of your day reading about the link of your choice. Feel free to forward this to friends and family, as we would love to share this information with as many people as possible!
If you would like to contribute financially, we have included a link to a program called "Connecting the Rainbow." This program is designed to serve the birth families of children born with Down syndrome abroad, who have chosen to raise them at home instead of placing them in an orphanage. We have also included a link to Reece's Rainbow which is a registered 501(c)3 charity which advocates and fundraises for the international adoption and rescue of children with Down syndrome! Perhaps someone has been considering adoption... perhaps you would like to donate to a waiting child...perhaps you would like to sponsor a family.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions at jodyrae76@yahoo.com and thank you so much for visiting our World Down Syndrome Day 2011 site! We sincerely thank you for your participation!
