Jenna was a premie baby who was born four weeks early and immediately rushed into surgery. She was diagnosed in the womb with a intestinal problem that many children with Down Syndrome had commonly known as trisomy 21. Soon after Jenna was born it was clear that she had Down syndrome. The mother only got to hold her daughter for about 30 seconds because they took Jenna to surgery. The good news being that the surgery was successful.
The list of possible medical problems for a child with trisomy 21 is shockingly long. People think of the cognitive delays and a certain physical clumsiness or awkwardness, but most don’t have a clue how complicated the condition’s medical problems are.
At 10 weeks old, Jenna had a virus called RSV and had to be on a respirator for 14 days. She went into heart failure twice.
As time progressed Jenna got stronger. In 2003, Jenna was the first patient at the Trisomy 21 Clinic. They couldn’t find an effective way to discipline her. She wasn’t jumping. She was waking up in the middle of the night crying. Dr. Pipan at the Trisomy 21 Clinic had a 2 hour appointment with Jenna, by the end of the day the mother was sobbing. She had gave the mother books about how to potty train children with special needs , she diagnosed Jenna with night terrors, which we could then treat. She explained that Jenna didn’t understand negatives in a sentence, so “Don’t eat that” sounded like “Eat that.” They found new ways to speak to her. A physical therapist helped Jenna learn to jump.
Jenna is now a funny, personable 12-year-old middle schooler. She takes dance class, plays field hockey, cheerleads, swims at camp, keeps up with her friends and plays a mean game of tag. While she is behind grade level in reading and math, she goes to school with the general population and she has friends of all ability levels.
They're so many multiple things like Jenna's story that have affect so many different types of people changing lives of each and every individual in their community. Many TV shows are showing how much Down syndrome affects everyone like the Fox's show "Glee" or "Secret life of An American Teenager" .
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