Hi all,

My name is Raymond, firstly thanks for visiting my just giving page. On the 3rd of october 2010 I shall be doing an abseil off the forth rail bridge in the hope to raise a heap of money for Down syndrome Scotland, Why am I doing this crazy challenge? Well its all down to one little boy, Lewis, my son and this is his story so far.

Lewis was born on the 5th of January  2001, he was rushed to the special care baby unit as he was very, very poorly. He under went lots of investigations and tests as they where unsure why he was so poorly, He recieved three blood transplants and was fed through a tube that went down his nose and into his stomach.

After two weeks in the scbu the doctors came to us and told us that Lewis had Down syndrome.

From that moment on our lifes and priorities changed!

Lewis remained in scbu for three weeks in total where they discovered he had three holes in his heart and congenital cataracts in each eye.

Lewis had his very first operation at the tender age of 4 weeks old to have his first cataract removed and an artifical lense sewn into his eye, he then had the second cataract removal at eight weeks old. Lewis had to take  special medicine for his heart as he was too small in weight to have his open heart surgery to repair his holes. At 11 months old Lewis had finally reached the goal weight and was taken for his open heart surgery to repair his heart!

 Lewis has had more than 20 operations in his life and is still having regular ops to check his eys are ok.

Lewis is doing really well now, he is nine years old and attends a special needs school where he has lots of friends and was recently chosen to represent his school at football, he scored a goal too!!

Down syndrome scotland have done alot in recent years to change peoples opinions on Downs and to help new parents come to terms with the slightly diffrent route thier life will take becoming a parent to a child with down syndrome.

But take it from me the new route is a wonderful route to take!!

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