Posted on 04/19/2011 11:01:51 AM PDT by wagglebee
There is an ugly statistic made well known by none other than The New York Times from a 2007 article; 90 percent of all pregnancies where the unborn child is given a diagnosis of Down Syndrome end in abortion.
Can you wrap your head around that? 9 in 10; 90 in 100 – that is a lot of life snuffed out because of the possibility of one pesky extra chromosome.
Have you ever met a child with Down Syndrome or with other special needs? I have met plenty of them. If fact, one of my own children has special needs. We say she may be delayed at most things, but she’s very advanced at loving.
I’m not going to paint a rosy picture and say it’s all sunshine and smiles being the parent of a child with special needs. There are extra trials and days you wonder if you’ll be able to keep your head while you heart feels like it’s breaking. My husband and I explain it to our other young children that their sister needs extra help, more help than most kids her age. Sometimes it’s not easy being a sibling of a child with special needs. But none of us could ever imagine our life without her, without her smile, her laughter, her hugs and (extra wet) kisses.
That’s why that statistic causes me to shudder. How many beautiful children meant for this world have been killed because some test didn’t come back perfect? How many smiles and hugs has the world lost because this little life wasn’t given the chance to take a breath and change minds, hearts and lives? Here’s a newsflash: none of us is perfect; some of us just have more visible crosses than others.
“We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary.” Pope Benedict XVI said this a few years ago, and I have since had conversations with other parents who have children with special needs about the last part: necessary. These kids who have extra struggles, extra pain, need extra help, are necessary. Many a lesson can be learned from them: selflessness, humility, sacrifice, joy, triumph.
The extra struggles lead to greater triumphs. The first time she independently got that morsel of food to her mouth or was able to sit up for a few minutes without assistance, joy welled up inside of me far exceeding that of my other kids reaching appropriate developmental milestones. Parents are not the only ones who feel this way. Siblings share in the extra joy too mushrooming into an exponential effect for the whole family.
Daily, my daughter teaches me these things and more. In fact, for the time being, I’ll be taking a break from this column and a professional break from the front lines in the fight to build a culture of Life so her lessons sink in more deeply. I thought I needed to go out into the world to help build a culture of Life, but lo and behold a daily building will occur in menial tasks with the potential for monumental triumphs. Families with children who need extra help do this every day and are a testament to the world that each life matters, including, and perhaps especially, the special ones.
I am the happy father of a 2 year-old downs boy. He was a surprise as we did not want the tests (would not have changed anything).
The fact that 90% are murdered is incredible because their love knows no bounds.
I'll humor you.
What you must understand is that like *most* everyone else on this forum one must find employment.
As do the parents of the child - until their retirement.
Then what happens? Who cares for the mentally retarded adult when a wage earner has to clock in?
You ready to send you brother/sister into this? ---> Fight Club
I'm 8500 miles away where people want to cut my head off and put it on YouTube.
In the Badlands
I have a friend whose ultrsound showed chances of Down’s Syndrome. The Dr’s office called, she and her family spent some time coming to terms with it and didn’t get back to the doctor right away but within 2 days the Dr’s office called again and told her that she needed to get back in immediately so they could terminate her pregnancy because the further along she got the harder it would be.
She told them to stick in their (ear), yeah, that’s what she said. They tried to convince her to get amnio, she refused and they tried to “reason” with her.
It was always still a maybe until he was born and she asked her mother first thing if he was Down’s Syndrome and she replied it was either that or he was Oriental.
He’s 9 and a gift to all of us. Everyone loves him and for some reason he really, really just loves my husband and my grown son and when they are around will not leave their side and it has been that way since he was a baby. It melts their hearts everytime they are around him.
I don’t think it’s necessary to humour me, but this previous post was a bit misleading, perhaps:
To: trisham
You’re kidding right? The entire surviving family’s functioning life revolves around his well-being. I’m now middle-aged and my mother is 70.
35 posted on April 19, 2011 3:19:59 PM EDT by primeval patriot (In the Badlands)
I did conclude that you were stating that your life was limited because of the necessity of the care you and your family were providing.
More than heartbreaking; it’s nothing less then demoniac.
Oh garbage. My youngest brother has Down Syndrome and we certainly had a normal childhood. I wouldn’t go back in time and kill him off if I could.
Blame your parents and not your sibling if your childhood was miserable.
As for the State, my brother had therapy until he was 3, my parents enrolled him in a private school to attend during the day, and the state stayed out. They had far, far more intrusion in their life when they became foster parents than with my brother.
Enrolled in a private school. That’s lovely.
Do you have any experience with mentally retarded adults outside of acquaintances or State/Federal governmental processes?
I don’t believe that is my statement. Where did you find that quote?
Nor would I.
Private schools - take a look at that State School I linked.
That's the reality for most folks if parents don't have the finances.
Yep, I'll blame mom and dad. Wanker.
What quote?
I know it isn't mine, and it was italicized in your post.
Yea I have an aunt with Down syndrome. She has her days of frustration but at age 55 there isn’t a trace of genuine evil in her entire being.
Leftist women look at Trig Palin and viscerally know “I would have had him killed”
and they hate her for making them acknowledge that about themselves.
To: primeval patriot
I don’t think it’s necessary to humour me, but this previous post was a bit misleading, perhaps:
To: trisham
You’re kidding right? The entire surviving family’s functioning life revolves around his well-being. I’m now middle-aged and my mother is 70.
35 posted on April 19, 2011 3:19:59 PM EDT by primeval patriot (In the Badlands)
I did conclude that you were stating that your life was limited because of the necessity of the care you and your family were providing.
45 posted on Tue Apr 19 23:00:05 2011 by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies | Report Abuse]
Hey, what’s up with this?
Yes, that is my quote. What you previously posted was not.
Everyone needs to visit one of the best family blogs in the world, http://www.kellehampton.com/ She was a loving mother of one little toddler, and a great photographer, when she gave birth last Jan 2010 to a surprise - another baby girl, but this one was born with Down Syndrome.
Start where she says to Start Here and start reading. You may need Kleenex for the birth story but it’s all beautiful — deep and beautiful. I absolutely love this blog and follow it every week. I have fallen in love with her family. It is true treat to read her.
State the problem.
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