In my previous post I told the story of the day Donovan met Ryan Lochte. I'm going to tell you a little more about Donovan leading up to that day. To begin with, when Donovan first started swimming for Special Olympics it was a complete struggle to complete one length of the pool without stopping 10 times.  Seriously, 10 times.  Our hope was for him to swim a 25 freestyle by State Games.  I honestly was not sure if that was going to happen.  It was a struggle but neither one of us gave up.

What a busy summer have had so there has been a gap in my posts. I had to take time out during the Olympics to share one of my favorite stories of Donovan. Donovan has been swimming competitively for Special Olympics for 13 years. I remember the frustration when he first started. I would count the number of times he stopped each lap. It drove me crazy. It takes a lot for the endurance and attention span to increase when, as a local radio DJ said this morning, "You are swimming for hours and

As I mentioned in a previous blog there is no perfect way to inform someone their child has Down syndrome. While I accepted my notification as a more sensitive notification than others I have heard some nightmare stories. At the same time we, as parents, are slow to inform our friends and families. I think fear of not being accepted or of being marked as different sometimes causes us to be more hesitant to tell our families and friends. When Donovan was born I was so worried about telling my

Stress and Guilt I would like to tell you about a Facebook group chat I had the other night with several mothers and one father. The mother that started the chat has a child with Downs that is around 4 years old. She is a wonderful mother and a wonderful person. She messaged about a level of stress, guilt, and depression over an issue. She explained that she has been dealing with sadness, depression, and guilt. Not because she has a child with Downs but because she is so worried all the time

I have often been told over the past 25 years that I am my child’s best advocate.  Whether it has been in schools advocating for educational needs or with doctors while attempting to get the services your child needs, sometimes it does feel like a constant battle.  If you back down though, the school staff and the medical staff will win every time. You ARE your child’s expert when it comes to knowing what they are capable of and what they need to help them succeed.  When Donovan was around 6

Everyone has their horror story of how they were told their child has Down syndrome.  My son is 25 and my mother is still mad at how the doctor told her that he believed Donovan has Down syndrome. I must agree that I do have an issue with it but, at the same time, there wasn’t much room for handling it differently.  After my C-section they let my mother carry Donovan to the nursery.  The hall was probably the equivalent of 10 rooms. While walking down the hall my mother noticed the nurses were

Since I have 25 years of stories to tell I guess I will start with the first time I was told my son has Down syndrome.  No, I believe I will start 6 days prior which was January 16, 1991.  I had my checkup and was told that my son was transverse (sideways) and seemed too big to turn any more.  We discussed options and decided a C-section was best.  That night the Gulf war broke out.  You see, my husband was a U.S. Marine and was in Saudi Arabia at the time.  Fortunately my husband called the