Ups & Downs

It was the annual Cardiologist appointment today that had my mind quickly flying back to the 18 years ago when my precious newborn was needing his weekly heart check ups. Seeing him today sitting on the table with the doctor listening intensly to the heart beat and quizzing me with the typical million questions I get asked each year for him quickly reminded me just how far we have come and what a blessing that is. My husband and I were just babies ourselves when our sweet Chase came into this world. I was terrified, excited and 100% in-love with this brand new baby boy I was holding in my arms. We just could not get enough of him! We were so blessed to have all of our families with us and Chase just got bounced from one person to the next his first night with all of us OOOhing and Ahhhing constantly. Little did my husband, Joseph, and I know how much our world was about to change in the good and bad. Both, my parents and my In-Laws, returned home that first night with thoughts that something wasn't right about Chase. My mom told my dad that he just didn't look like a "normal" baby, while my dad argued back that he was perfect. The following day was a whirl wind to say the least. My mom brought in breakfast and while we were sitting on the bed eating our Pediatrician entered asking how I was feeling and what we thought about our new baby and if we had seen him. Duh, of course I saw him, I gave birth to him the night before! Then he proceeded in the most uncaring way to bluntly say "your baby has Down Syndrome and a heart defect." I remember myself saying back to him. "No, you have the wrong baby, there is nothing wrong with my baby!" As I was saying that to him, my heart was about to jump out of my chest and the tears instantly began. His next words were "I am going to go now and let this sink in with you. The cardiologist will be in soon to speak with you." And just like that, he was gone. Now, the panic began. Not only did we have a baby with developmental delays, he had a hole in his heart that was going to need surgery in the up coming year. The following months were filled with massive amounts of cardiology appointments, lots of medications and even a neurosurgeon to get him ready for an unknown date of heart surgery. Oh, and we found a new and amazing pediatrican too. At 4 months of age, the cardiologist informed us that he felt Chase was ready to head to MUSC Charleston for the surgery. We arrived in Charleston 2 days before surgery day for the insane amount of testing Chase had to go through, and for Joseph and I to go through our tour of the NICU to learn what to expect - which by the way, never really prepares you for YOUR child.

What was supposed to be 5-ish days in Charleston, turned into 2 weeks. The surgery went great, but Chase has serious set backs with some infections that had us on the point of nervous breakdowns. He did it though. He pulled through like a trooper and with that taken care of, he was on his way!

Chase was a whole new fella after the surgery. So much stronger and alert and from there, we could focus on helping him become the best he could be. We spent the next 13 years going to Occupational therapy, Physical therapy and Speech therapy once a week for each for many of those years. We made such wonderful forever friends in doing so and Chase just blossomed more and more. We tried going to a support group meetings, but the first one we went to the group was talking about surgery to make children with Downs look more normal. WHAT? And some were discussing adding more Beta Carotene to their diets to help improve brain functions and their kids were actually orange from what seemed an overdose of it. No thank you. So with that, we decided we did not need a support group. We were just going to support each other and face life with Chase with positive thoughts and deal when we have to deal. We have certainly faced some challenges over the years, and I know that more are still to come through out his life. I welcome them. We walked out of the Cardiology appointment today with another smile and sigh of relief that another year has passed and his heart is still healthy. October is Down Syndrome Awareness month.Chase, like other people with Down Syndrome, is so much more "normal" than most people think. He also wants to be treated normal too! Sure, he has his set backs and sometimes acts a little goofy when he shouldn't, but don't we all? He embarrasses his 3 younger sister from time to time, but what older brother doesn't? Recently I learned from our Pediatrican(who also has brother with Downs)that on top of it being rare that an 18 year old, like I was, give birth to a child with Downs, but it is also rare that the child with Downs be the first born. I like to think that makes Chase just a little more extra special.

Best Friends



These girls here are such a fun group of ladies. My daughter decided that she wanted a photoshoot with some of her best friends, so they dressed up and we hit the road. We made some phone calls and were able to land this beautiful farm location of some some family friends so the girls could have some "country shots". After lots of laughs and lots of sweating, we left the farm and headed down town for the "city shots". These girls are so blessed to have each other in their lives and I hope these pictures will be lasting memories in their life. I look forward to their senior year when we can re-take these and see how much they've grown. Love you A, K & L!!



Prom Sweethearts

Just as we thought the rain would begin to fall, sunshine appeared from above,and these two prom sweets got to smile and strut their stuff before dancing the night away. I sure hope it was all the fun they dreamed of!

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Joy Prom 2013

What a Joy!

A part of every high school students high school experience is going to the prom. A night where you dress up, dance away the night, hang with friends, ect...

Unfortunately, for some students thats not always an option. In the case of my son Chase, who has Down Syndrome, going to the school Prom wasn't going to be an option for him this year. He is a junior this year, so he qualified by grade to go, but no one else in his class was going and I had been told by some of the students that help out in his class that the Special Ed students normally don't attend. I assume the reasons they don't attend are the same reasons I wasnt going to let Chase go as well. Possible drinking, the issue of a date, possibly not feeling included, so forth so on.

As a parent, I totally agree with those reasons and sadly had to give Chase the shoot down on the Prom when he came home talking about it. However, little did I know, he wasn't talking about the school Prom, he was talking about something called the Joy Prom. A local church every year hosts a "prom" for students 15 and older that have special needs and its called the Joy Prom. He came home talking about his possible date for the Joy Prom and the dinner plans being made and I'm just standing there wondering what he was talking about, until I got the sweetest phone call.

One of Chase's best friends is a sweet girl that is part of the Project Unify and helps out daily with Chase's class. She was calling me to see if she could take Chase to the Joy Prom. She proceeded to tell me about Chase's other classmates that were planning to go and some of the other students that help in Chase's class were going too as some of the "chapperones/dates". After discussing it with her and a few days of thinking it over, I gave in and plan to let him go. I have gotten to know Chase's sweet friend over the past few months and I really felt comfortable with her as Chase's "date". I knew he would be in good hands for the evening.

Formal attire is welcomed, but I went for a more casual attire for Chase, so that he would be more comfortable.

As the plans were being made, we discovered that Chase's sweet friend and date had a school softball game that evening, but luckily, her coach was able to have the game time moved up earlier so that she could still take Chase that night.

Her game began at 5:30 and of all nights, it went into over time! As her mother and I stood there giggling about how good the game was, we were saying to each other, "of all nights!"  Finally the game ended, and we were off in rush mode. She ran off the bathroom to freshen up from a hard played ball game, I ran chase to the parking lot to do a SuperMan change of clothing in the car.

 Joseph got his tie tied just right and gave Chase the manly check over to make sure he looked extra good.

 a quick pose with dad photo and we were on the run to meet up with his date so they could go dance the night away.

 Boy does she clean up fast and as always so pretty! Chase sweetly helping put her flowers on her arm.

Some quick poses for the 4 or cameras on them and they were on their way!  Surprisingly, I wasn't worried about him at all. I knew that everyone Chase would be with that evening was going to welcome him to a fun filled night and the friends he was hanging with knew him just as well as I do, and accepted him just as he is. Later around 10pm they checked in to tell us they were headed to the Waffle House to eat with a group from school that had attended the Joy Prom as well. I later picked him up from our meeting place and he got home around 11:30.
His first night out with friends and he got to stay out late(which was important to him). He had a blast and my heart is just so warmed with knowing he has friends that care enough about him and other classmates too to be willing to take up their Friday night to do this. They certainly have a speical place in my heart!

Special Olympics 2013!

Special Olympics 2013!

Lexington County Area 7 Games

Hosted by White Knoll High School

You see that handsome fella running with the torch? Yes, that's my Chase! It was such an honor for him to be given the opportunity to run the torch out to light the flame for the start of the games. He did such a great job and we all could see the happiness on his face and  he was so proud of himself. Running with along side him is one of his best friends and one of the Project Unify students I so proudly talk about.

To see all these special children and adults come together for a day of fun and games and interaction  is really so amazing to watch. Its a day when they can sort of let loose and just have fun. If you ever get a chance to volunteer, please give a it a try. The rewards you will take away from it will probably be greater than you ever imagined. 

 Lots of friends, fun and events.

Rally on to End the R Word!

Let the Rally Begin!

This past March the rally to End the R Word was held on our State House grounds.

The turn out of people was so impressive! Whats even more impressive are the Project Unify Students that are through out our state and nation for that matter. Getting to know some of these students that are a huge part of my sons special education class is so rewarding. These students not only are helpful to the special ed students everyday in many ways, but the friendships that grow are so heartwarming. Many of the ones graduating this year are looking to have careers that are going to be part of the lives of children and adults with special needs.

These students also know the importance of ending the R word "retarded". They are willing to stand on the steps of the State House and express their views and feelings about how hurtful that word is not only to the person with mental disabilities, but to the families of these children and adults.

My son, Chase, truly is blessed to have such caring and wonderful friends at his high school, and I pray that these wonderful students will continue to make a difference in the world.

Please, take your pledge to End the R Word today!



WIS News 10  Dawndy Mercer, the MC of the Rally.

 Katie cheering on White Knoll High School for the Spirit Award! (which we won by the way)

 White Knolls banners!