Two years ago today, on 2/2/22, our youngest daughter Ailsa underwent open heart surgery. She was 4 months old. At home, 2nd February is now known as "Two's Day".

Ailsa was diagnosed at birth with Trisomy-21 or Down's Syndrome (DS). DS is a genetic condition whereby Ailsa has an extra copy of chromosome 21. Children with DS will have some level of learning disability and are more likely to have a range of other health conditions. As with any child, it's impossible to know what their life will be like from the outset!

Around 50% of babies (1 in 2!) with DS will be born with a heart condition. Ailsa had atrial and ventricular septal defects i.e. holes in the upper and lower chambers of the heart. Surgery was needed to close these.

I'm hoping to raise money for Shine21. They're a fantastic local charity who support children with DS and their families. This includes speech and language therapy, support developing fine motor skills, physiotherapy and Makaton (baby sign language) lessons to help children reach their full potential. These are resources that are either not available or not available with sufficient frequency on the NHS. As a family we are so grateful for the support they give Ailsa on a weekly basis and can see a huge impact on her development and communication.

As a small charity (last financial year income was just £61k) every donation, no matter how small, really does make a difference in providing this much needed resource and improving the lives of those with DS.