Down Syndrome Awareness Month.

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October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month and I'm taking the challenge of blogging everyday for 31 days..."31 for 21". Well, realistically I will try for 21 days out of the 31 that way I won't set myself up for failure :) I'm not promising that all these days will be very interesting...might just be something as simple as a picture but it will be about something to do with Down syndrome and the beauty that the extra 21st chromosome brings.

Soooo...since it is "awareness of Down syndrome" I will start with some facts about it for those who may have no idea. I imagine there aren't too many things in our lives where we just decide to go learn about for no particular reason. Until I received the gift of Joey back on July 22, 2005 I had no idea about the many things I have learned since then.

So here goes..."Down syndrome 101"...short and sweet.

Let's talk chromosomes...those little "wormy" like DNA things. Here is a picture...

Usually there are 46 chromosomes in every cell of our bodies. There are 23 pairs...one from each parent. There are scientific terms to what happens during cell division and "they" call it an "error...something gone wrong" during the cell division that results in an extra 21st chromosome. Those who've been given the gift of someone with this extra chromosome don't refer to this as an "error...or something gone wrong" but something totally planned or allowed by God and something so RIGHT.
Back to the picture (which by the way is called a Karyotype of Chromosomes). See where the arrow is?...pointing to the 21st chromosome?...there is where that extra gift is located. This extra chromosome is what makes those with Down syndrome look and act so much alike. And I don't mean that in a bad way because many believe those with Down syndrome ALL do this and ALL do that and ALL have this, etc. They do have many of the same characteristics and personality traits but at the same time, just like everyone else in this world, they are their own unique being and have their own individual personalities.

The medical term for Down syndrome is "Trisomy 21"..."tri" meaning 3 and "somy" for chromosomes...3 chromosomes. For short, we call it "T/21".

Since I said this would be short and since I have many more days to go I better stop here.