The Down syndrome community knows how special its family members and friends are who have been blessed with an extra 21st chromosome. This month is a special time to share with the world what it means to have Down syndrome, what they need from us, and how people with Down syndrome play a vital role in our family’s lives, and in our communities.

What more encouraging support can we provide than to share the positive experiences families have, and the beautiful and happy faces of those who are so deeply loved by their families and friends. We have two special initiatives for you to participate in:

• Stories of Love and Hope: Share your story of receiving a prenatal or postnatal diagnosis of Down syndrome and we will add your story to our online collection so that other families may be comforted and educated about the joy a child with Down syndrome can bring to a family.
• Lejeune’s Wall of Heroes: Send us a picture of your special hero with Down syndrome, along with a phrase of tribute to that person. We will add your hero to our virtual “wall,” and will eventually use these images to create a mosaic of the face of Jerome Lejeune.

We hope that through our “Stories of Love and Hope” and “Lejeune’s Wall of Heroes,” parents who have received a prenatal or postnatal diagnosis will have the opportunity to meet families - at least virtually - and know that they, too, will fall in love with their child the first time they hold him or her in their arms.