A brief summary

I am a stay at home mom (and part time real estate agent) of three children, ages 6 1/2, 4, and 2 years. My husband is a public school teacher. Our oldest child, Aliza Grace was born in 2002 with Down syndrome. She is the most amazing, beautiful, loving child anyone could ever dream of having. We have had our challenges with Aliza, including open heart surgery at 3 weeks of age, battles with Pneumonia, ear infections, bowel problems, etc. At the same time we have all worked incredibly hard to help Aliza make gains and achieve as her typical peers do. She is fully included in a regular education First Grade classroom, she takes dance class, swimming lessons (she is swimming independently at 6 years old! WOW!) and rides horses. Every challenge we have put in front of Aliza, she has taken on and has succeeded. We are so proud to be her parents and to watch her grow and achieve things that many have said kids with disabilities could not. In addition to having our first child being born with a disability, when our second child, Trevor was 22 months old, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The relationship between Aliza and Trevor is amazing. Her development has truly been enhanced because of him. Now that he is sick, we have learned a lot about Sibling Cord Blood Donation. It is like fate stepped in and showed us what we need to do for our son. We learned of a company that would allow us to donate our unborn child’s cord blood, completely free of charge, so that in the event Trevor would need a stem cell transplant, it will be available for him. Although we planned this pregnancy, it could not have come at a better time for Trevor. Financially we would not have been able to afford to have the cord blood saved if the company did not come forward with their generous gift, which could turn out to be the gift of life for our son. In November 2006, our third child Ella was born. At this point we do not know if we will ever need to use Ella's cord blood, we pray that we will not. In this journey we have learned many things, most importantly; everyone has something to offer... Aliza has taught us that perfection is in the eye of the beholder; Trevor’s diagnosis has taught us that life is not guaranteed even when your child is “typical”, and Ella may one day give the gift of life to her brother through her cord blood. We have amazing children. We strive to be strong advocates for our children and have had so many medical and educational challenges that we never planned for on the day we said our vows to each other. Our marriage and relationship has grown stronger as a result of these challenges. You never know your own strength until it is tested; our strength as individuals and a couple has been tested more than many others. We have remained strong and committed.