Day 1

To start off on my new blogging adventure for the month, I am going to try to post some Down syndrome stories that I come across. I know, I am just tryng to make up for October to stifle the guilt! But humor me.

This story will be aired on the Discovery Channel's Mystery Diagnosis in February of 2009. This litle girl ended up being diagnosed with translocated mosaic Down syndrome. Penny's boyfriend, Dillon, has mosiac Down syndrome. However, she was not diagnosed until almost age 3 due to her very mild symptoms. You can read all about her and see pictures here. This post is very imformative about the different types of Down syndrome.

"Hannah was born April 11, 2000 weighing in at 9 lb and 20 1/2 inches long. She developed and hit all milestones at a typical level. She did have projectile vomiting along with constipation issues however these were addressed as allergies and add more fiber or water less iron less lactose etc….. she started getting ill with every virus cold flu and cough around December ‘02′/ January ‘03′ and I noticed a Cobalt Blue color bruise on her right shin, when I questioned that I was told wait a month and watch it… when I questioned her illnesses–well it could be this or that…. while she was ill she complained of severe leg pains and cried to walk or play stumbling at times, she was pale and so on…
March 27, 2003 she was diagnosed with Leukemia a rare form (Myelodysplastic Syndrome) and admitted to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. During her initial high dosed chemotherapy it was discovered she had a chromosome translocation ( small parts of her #1 and #19 switched places) as well as trisomy 21 with monosomy 7. At the time we had no clue she had these abnormalities or extra cells. Further testing showed she had a mosaic Down syndrome, this was effecting about 5-10% of her cells, she was never diagnosed before or after her birth with any of these until her leukemia diagnosis in 2003."

Again, please click here to read the rest of Hannah's amazing story. And she is so cute!