Put a smile to a face (The NHS and the disabled)

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Product:	The NHS and the disabled
Date:	23/11/00 (7 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: make some less fortunate happy

Disadvantages: there are none

I feel very strongly towards helping those who are not as fortunate as me as I have a younger sister who has downsyndrome. My parents have always had an open house to help young children from the moment they started 13yrs of foster caring. They mostly have young babies whom are not wanted by the natural parents of for much more harrowing reasons have been taken away from there family’s.

I remember exactly the day my younger sister came home to die with us.

She was born with downsyndrome and her natural parents did not want her, so social services contacted my mother to say that the baby needed a home (I say baby because the natural parents did not even want to name her, so hospital records showed her name as Infant). This call would be an important one for it was to change my family forever. The child who we called Lucy was sent to us when she was just 2 days old, the hospital sent her to us to die. She had downsyndrome as I previously stated, but the poor girl’s problem did not stop there, she had an ASD this is when the wall between the two chambers of your heart has a hole in it. She also had internal bleeding in her kidney's (a problem that lasted until she was about 5 yrs. The reason she was sent to us was it was believed by everyone involved that although she had a life expectancy of just 6-10 days, we as a family could at least make it a happier time rather than her just staying in hospital and never being remembered.

What was to happen was described as a miracle by all the doctors involved. As they said her condition got worse, but some how she pulled through and is now 9yrs old. At the time everyone said it was a miracle and praise was put on us as a family, but know I believe it is more down to my sister being (even from that age) the bravest and strongest person I have ever had the privilege to meet (some statement considering I joined the para’s).

Obviously it was not as easy as I made it sound,
her happy life is the reward for 9yrs of the most stressful hard work and dedication to my sister by my parents. (Whom I would like to thank, as I love my sister to bits) As I said when she first came to us we were her foster family but as you might have guessed we later adopted her.

Through her life she has proved to me time and time again of her bravery. We are talking about a girl that should have died at the age of 10 days. But now at 9yrs old she goes to a mainstream school 2 days a week the other 3 at a special needs school. She can ride a horse without help, she can swim, write read count and recite the alphabet but probably the most amazing considering her heart problems, is that she is a very good and accomplished Gymnast, that is at a level that a fit and healthy child would be at about 7-8yrs.

As with all handicapped people she is the most generous and helpful of people, she always wears a broad smile and has the ability to make the coldest day fell like 90degrees. I love my sister dearly and would not want to be without her.

So my only request of anyone reading this is to remember that there are those less fortunate than you are, so why not try and do something for them.

I am 100% sure that she would not be here to day without all the hard work and effort of those around her and the financial help from charities such as children in need.

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