Aaron's story

"...walking through the door of the Centre was like a burst of sunshine"

“Having Aaron was such a shock. At 42 we'd known there was a risk and we'd declined the amniocentesis, but you don't really think its going to happen to your family. When he was born, it was me who thought that he might have Down syndrome, even though the professionals didn't think so. But, they did the test and then we had to wait five days for the results to confirm it...

“As we were leaving, one of the midwives gave me a paper about the Sarah Duffen Centre and told me to get in touch with them, but all I could think was that I didn't know how we were going to get through the rest of our lives...

“Well, just walking through the door of the Centre was like a burst of sunshine. There were all these pictures of children on the wall and they weren't at all how I'd imagined children with Down syndrome to look. It was like a huge oppressive cloud lifting from me. People came up and talked to us, talked about their own children, and suddenly I didn't feel alone any more, and I could picture Aaron as one of the children on the wall.

“Since that day we've gone from strength to strength. Aaron had his heart operation at three months and has recovered beyond our wildest expectations. We are still in touch with the Centre regularly, and take great comfort in knowing that they'll be there whenever we need them. We know we have challenges ahead, but we just feel that Aaron was meant to be with us.”

Marie, mother of 9 month old Aaron.

[Read more Experiences]