Well....

It is amazing how this little extra piece of genetic material can tie so many families together. But today, my mind floats back to a family (who may or may not have a child with Down syndrome) that I just cannot forget.


Last year, around this time, we began to see a few posts from a new mommy who had some questions about transient leukemia (a leukemia that some kids with Down syndrome are born with but can resolve on it's own). Then she posted that her little girl had a confirmed diagnosis of T21 following a blood test. Later, she posted a few more posts and then one about some of her family "outing" her daughter's diagnosis and not being happy that people would know about the Down syndrome and feared they would treat her differently. Many of us moms, including myself, responding we could see the Down syndrome in her eyes and that it was not a bad thing. The mom did not like this post at all and I fear we ran her off.

A few days (or maybe longer, I really don't know) she had a post about her daughter sitting unassisted at 4 months (I think) and someone from our Ds board commented about sitting and Down syndrome---this thread got very ugly, the mom accused the poster of being rude and making accusations about her daughter and her health.

This mom has never returned to the Babycenter Down syndrome support board, for all I know she is not active on babycenter at all. I found her on Facebook (it was easy to search her name + her husband's name + their daughter's name which led me to her on Facebook and myspace). Anyhow, she friended me for a hot minute on Facebook then she dropped me and went private. I let it go but then, again, her gorgeous baby girl popped into my head. I wondered how she was doing and tried to send the mom a note. She never answered.

I don't care if she has Down syndrome or not, it makes no difference to me. But if she does, there is a lot of support out there waiting for her and her mommy if she would come back. And I cannot seem to forget them. I don't know if I ever will. I feel bad for having offended the mom, Annette. Maybe, I should just let it go...