Macey-Grace’s Story, by her mum, Chloe
10 years ago, today, was one of the scariest moments of my life! On 7th October 2011, at the young age of 17, I gave birth to a beautiful little girl with Down Syndrome. I called her Macey-Grace. From that day, I had the fear of God put into me, of all the things she wouldn’t do and the hardship it was going to be being a young single parent to a child with DS!
At first we did have a lot of appointments to attend and, in the first year, a few health scares as she was one of the 50% born with a heart condition. We were lucky enough that she didn’t need medical intervention to fix it though. Her clever little body did that all by itself. Fast forward 10 years, she has grown to be one of the strongest, most resilient, sassy, funny, caring, empathetic children to ever grace this earth.
Despite critics saying children/adults with Down’s syndrome are always happy, and don’t have feelings like everyone else, her temper, but also her empathy and sadness when someone is hurt, would make you beg to differ. I would be lying if I didn’t say we’ve had our tough times. But the good times far outweigh them.
Everyone who meets my daughter tells me how grateful they are to have her in their lives! We once met a woman on a bus, and she spent all of 20 minutes with my daughter. We didn’t see this woman again until 3 years later, when Macey-Grace started school and she said to me, “I never forgot her! She made my day, that day, and she changed my perceptions!” And that was all just as a result of that little interaction with her! I always say, I dare anyone to meet Macey-Grace and not fall in love with her! And she proves this time and time again, with her infectious smile and her heaps of charisma and energy.
I wish more children were like my daughter! She’s educated so many people, touched so many people’s lives, changed so many people. She shows her sister and me patience, kindness, understanding and most importantly, love, every single day. She both changed and saved me as a person, and I am absolutely blessed to have been chosen to help her grow into the incredible little human she is turning out to be.