A Parent’s Story

No one wants to feel alone. Even if I understood what Down Syndrome was because I was a teacher and taught in inclusive classrooms, when the neonatologist gave me a birth diagnosis of Trisomy 21, I felt the full gamut of emotions that comes along with the understanding that my parenthood journey was forever going to be different. My husband Nino and I looked to each other for comfort, but we also knew we had no idea how to move forward except through our faith. We prayed for Evangelina’s (Gelli) successful surgery that she would have to undergo within hours of her birth, for strength, and for a community that would welcome us and guide us on this new path.

Finding other parents of kids who had Down syndrome suddenly put things into perspective for us.
We looked to parents with older kids to see how their kids were growing, what we could expect as new parents ourselves, and, most of all, for encouragement.

We wanted the reassurance of someone who had ‘been there, done that,’ even if our experiences weren’t exactly the same, and we wanted to relate to other parents who understood where we were, without much explanation or need for words.

Gelli gave us membership to a special kind of club. She opened up our world to people whom we never would have met, and because of her, we found parents of kids just like her, which was comforting, reassuring, and safe.

Gelli’s arrival has brought many positive adventures into our lives. I now lead Best Buddies Philippines and am happy to be part of an organization that continues to support and empower the IDD community throughout different life stages.