Episode 21 – Down Syndrome Awareness

World Down Syndrome Awareness Day is March 21.  We celebrate this with our guest, Jason Cosky.  Mark and Jason both have children with Down Syndrome so this is a topic near and dear.  We go through some basic facts about DS:

• Officially Trisomy 21 – An extra copy of the 21st chromosome.  Hence the date 3-21.


• Most common genetic disorder.  1 in ~700 births.


• Children with DS have higher incidence of certain medical disorders and mild to moderate cognitive delay.


• Over the years many of the medical challenges have been overcome and people with DS live longer, more normal lives.


• Better therapy methods including early intervention have drastically improved the outlook for children with DS.


• Exciting new research may produce drugs capable of addressing some of the cognitive delay!


• Research is WAYYY underfunded compared to other genetic disorders.  We pimp the DSRTF!

Mark and Jason share stories about Luke and Dexter (photos below) while John and Matt give the layman’s perspective.  Here are some links to get more info:

• http://www.worlddownsyndromeday.org/


• http://downrightawesome.com/


• http://www.dsrtf.org/ (Down Syndrome Research and Treatment Foundation)


• http://www.ndss.org/ (National Down Syndrome Society)

Final thoughts from Mark and Jason went something like

Having a child with DS does set you up for some extra work (therapy) and possibly some medical issues, but in the end they will be just as weird and wonderful as any other kid.

We conclude with rants and moments as always.  Jason had been saving up rants for 20 episodes so we let him vent a little extra.  If anyone has any additional rants to share, just add a comment on this page and we will read it on the air.

Thanks for listening,

Mark

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