As many of you know, our lovely Lucas was born with a surprise extra chromosome nearly 13 years ago,, at which point there was no local support. After a couple of years we met up with 3 other families and started to work out how we could support each other. 

8 years later our charity supports over 75 families in the local area, providing regular meet ups with fun and educational activities, Speech therapy support, social events including trips to Blackpool and support to schools and hospitals/medical training. 

Everything we do is through volunteering and fundraising, so every penny from events like these really counts. 

Down's Syndrome is a relatively common genetic condition where an extra copy of chromosome 21 is produced - no one knows why, but it can bring a range of additional challenges such as learning delay, heart, bowel and other medical problems, sight, hearing and mobility issues. What it also brings is an unfiltered enjoyment of life, a different perspectiive of what is important and generally a joy to everyone who gets to know someone with that little extra. Sadly it is often something feared because it is not understood, hence why we spend a lot of our time educating medical professionals not to present a diagnosis as a disaster. Many people with DS are educated at mainstream school, get married, live independently, have jobs and do other amazing things like swim the channel, be a UN Ambassador, run their own businesses, become models...others have happy lives bringing joy to their families. Anything is possible with the right support and high expectations.