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Zachary Diamond and Angie Nunes look at their "wonderfully healthy" 6-month-old son Solomon, knowing they might have terminated the pregnancy — all because of a popular prenatal test that was wrong. The Portland, Oregon, couple was encouraged to use a new noninvasive blood test that their doctor said was "99 percent" accurate in predicting chromosomal abnormalities. The test revealed the fetus had Trisomy 18 or Edwards syndrome, a painful genetic condition that is nearly always fatal, and their doctor told them to prepare for the worst. "If you google Trisomy 18, your heart will just shatter with the prognosis," Diamond,...

We have a friend, Kayse, here in Michigan who has a beautiful little 2 year old girl named Lila. Kayse sent us an update the other day (Saturday September 27th) because Lila has been sick for the last couple of weeks. Most people have read about the viruses making their way around the country and get a little nervous about their children getting one of these viruses that have put so many children in the hospital. Well, we pay close attention to these updates that we receive because Lila has Trisomy 18 (Edwards Syndrome) which is the same chromosome abnormality...

“How is Faith doing?” That is probably the question I have heard the most in the last five years. Every time I get asked that question, I have the same general answer: “She is doing okay, but the doctors still have not figured out _____.” I shock myself with how many medical terms I now understand without ever having gone to medical school, and I am only 15! Faith Victoria Smith was born on December 23, 2008. I was so excited to have a second sister — now it matched my two brothers! She is the best Christmas present I...

I am new to this journey. My daughter Faith is only 5 years old. She is mentally and physically disabled, still small enough to carry, quiet . . . mostly, and has not developed the larger, louder, and strange movements and sounds that many older people who are mentally and physically disabled seem to develop as they try to express themselves – yet. We have taken our daughter to concerts, plays, movie theatres, political speeches, pro-life fundraisers and community events, and spend a lot of time in hallways and lobbies when she does get loud. However, we’ve found that the...

“The baby is incompatible with life. Here is the number if you choose to terminate.” Until this Summer, I had never heard of Trisomy 18. Also known as Edwards Syndrome, Trisomy 18 is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of an extra 18th chromosome in a person’s cells. This can cause heart malformations, kidney problems, breathing difficulties and a number of other problems. The idea of a genetic disorder was abstract, until Tad, my unborn baby cousin, was diagnosed with T18. After learning that Tad had T18, doctors quickly changed their tone when talking about him. Despite the fact...

LifeNews.com Note: Rick Santorum represented Pennsylvania as a member of the House and then the Senate. He was the sponsor of the partial-birth abortion ban and is widely considered one of the pro-life leaders in Congress during his tenure. He is a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. "Incompatible with life." The doctor's words kept echoing in my head as I held my sobbing wife, Karen, just four days after the birth of our eighth child, Isabella Maria.Bella was born with three No. 18 chromosomes, rather than the normal two. The statistics were heartbreaking: About 90 percent...

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas, May 23, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In an age when abortion on demand is the norm, and when doctors routinely advise pregnant mothers to abort children found to have genetic abnormalities, parents who choose to give birth to handicapped children are becoming less common. These days it takes a special type of courage to ignore the advice of physicians, friends, and public sentiment, and to embrace the sacrifices that come with bringing a seriously handicapped child into the world.  Eliot Mooney was one such child. Despite being diagnosed 30 weeks into pregnancy with the typically fatal condition Trisomy...

For a boy who fell just short of 5 pounds, Sullivan Anderson left quite an imprint on the world. His six-day life was chronicled in detail - from his blue knit hat to the soles of his feet - and witnessed by hundreds on the Internet.When his parents, Brad and Heidi Anderson, set up a personal Web site last April, they thought it would display the minutia of family life - birthday greetings and photos - to a small circle of relatives and friends. They even joked on the blog about having "absolutely nothing to say."But a journey of...

<p>Roy A. Filly, M.D.</p> <p>I have just reached the 30th anniversary of the first obstetrical sonogram I performed. Even having witnessed each of the technological advancements in sonography over those three decades, it is still difficult to comprehend the enormous improvements in image quality that have occurred. These improvements have brought sonography from a “promising” diagnostic tool to a mainstay of modern imaging. However, nowhere in medicine has this technique had a more profound impact than in the field of obstetrics. Thirty years ago there was essentially no such thing as obstetrical imaging and prenatal diagnosis was in its infancy.</p>