A question for all . . .
My niece called last month telling me that her friend had a 15 minute old baby and had just been told that the baby was diagnosed with Down syndrome. She pleaded: “What should I tell her!?!” I was eating in a loud LA sports bar watching three football games at the time so the question took me by surprise, but the first thing out of my mouth was “Is it her first?” “No” she replied. I said: “Tell her that she will love this baby exactly the same as she does her other children — that this baby’s face will be equally enchanting to her as her other children’s faces.” My niece said: “She’s just crying and crying.” So I told her to also add that ”It’s allright to be sad for a while. You have to mourn what you thought you would have, but you have lost. It is not disrespectful to this baby to mourn that one.”
My own Down syndrome son is 14 years old – – hard to believe it’s been that long, just like all kids who grow up before you know it. I was just wondering how anyone else with a Down syndrome child might have responded to that sudden question. So, I decided to put the question out in the cyber world to anyone who has been given the same news and might be asked the same question:
What would you have said?