Posted on 07/07/2015 7:30:56 PM PDT by Morgana
CHICKASHA, Oklahoma -
Dollie Grissom is 74 years old and she has Down syndrome. She’s one of nine kids and her siblings spoil her during visits several times a week.
“This is home so we just come to her,” her sister, Marilyn Crossen said.
Home has been the Chickasha Nursing Center since 1969. “I wouldn’t take her out of here for anything,” Crossen added.
And Dollie has done nearly the same thing each day for the last 47 years.
“She wakes up when she gets ready to wake up. We bring her breakfast, usually pancakes. She will sit around and listen to her radio,” explained Social Services Director Shari Brunt.
And around lunchtime Crossen usually shows up with Dollie’s favorite – chicken and a shake from Braum’s. Once that’s all gone, Dollie will spend the day with her dolls.
“She takes care of her babies. She plays with them. She scolds them. They get in trouble sometimes, but she loves her babies,” Brunt said. There were easily three dozen stuffed animals and dolls in her room at the center when we visited.
Brunt said Dollie also likes to drink Cokes and play in the shower. She’s a kid at heart.
But it’s this routine that her family credits with keeping her around much longer than the average person with the condition.
(Excerpt) Read more at news9.com ...
Bless her heart.
I’ve known several families over the years with Downs Syndrome children, and some adults, and they were all wonderful people.
God bless her and her family.
That is awesome. We were told for years that they wouldn’t live beyond 30. Sick of the lies.
“Ah yes, my little Chick-a-Shay...”
There is local guy I know with DS who is my ‘birthday bro’. He’s almost 50.
What a wonderful story. Both for the fact that she’s made it to 74, and that she’s living a happy, content life. It sends a powerful message about the joy of life being measured in more than just dollars, or by unelected health care panels, and so on.
I’d forward this to the White House, but I don’t think anyone there would be able to grasp that point.
I had no idea their lives were so short!
“We were told for years that they wouldn’t live beyond 30. Sick of the lies.”
Actually that was the truth years ago. In the early 1900’s these babies did not live past age 10. Then as medicine improved it was age 20, then age 30. Now it’s age 60.
They are looking into a cure for down syndrome (other than abortion” and I encourage some parents to be open to it. Some parents don’t like the idea as down’s kids are very loving. I say go for it because the number one health problem these kids have is heart disease. If the cure prevents that then great! Getting on the heart transplant list is a nightmare, getting on it if your are down syndrome is just not going to happen. I don’t want to sound cruel but that is the way things are. I tell my best friend who’s son has down’s “keep his health up, more so his heart that is the key to a long life”.
See my post 10. It has improved. Mostly it’s abortion that cuts their lives short these days.
Wow, I learn a lot from Free Republic.
So do I :)
Having a mentally challenged baby brother, Down’s people hold a special place in my heart.
There is a young DS man at church who has had all sorts of medical problems. If it weren’t for modern medicine, he would have been dead in his teens. He is so sweet, too. His mother and dad got him a donkey to care for and he positively loves that smelly old donkey.
That’s great. Down syndrome people are really very sweet.
My cousin is in his 50s and has a pension from Walmart. He lives in a group home and drives his own car.
I wish I had Braums near me, too.
Great post. Thanks.
Our son was suspected with Down’s after he was born. He had to be tested, but I was warned because of my age. Didn’t care. I refused ‘amnio’.
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