As Nigeria joins the global community to mark World Down Syndrome Day 2023, scheduled for March 21, PUNCH HealthWise said in this report that parents and caregivers of children with special needs By talking, we examine the difficulties of raising a child with this condition. SODIQ Ojurombe report
When Mrs. Rose Mordi gave birth to her daughter 28 years ago, she immediately suspected something was wrong with the baby girl.
Based on her previous knowledge of Down syndrome, she instantly recognizes some of the signs of health in newborns.
According to Mrs. Mordi, she was the first to warn medical staff, including doctors and nurses, about the health problems of a newborn named Awele Mordi.
Before Awele was born, Mrs. Mordi gave birth to three children without complications. Mordi sits in her hospital bed looking dejected as she finds out that her pretty newborn baby girl has Down syndrome and has to live with it.
Mrs. Mordi felt even worse when she thought about the reality of living with health conditions in this country and the trauma of stigma that children and families have to face from an ignorant society.
However, she quickly picked herself up and saw this condition as a blessing in disguise. Mrs. Mordi said she was able to combat the stigma attached to this condition by giving the world no choice but to accept her child the way she was born.
Mrs. Mordi later founded the Nigerian Down Syndrome Foundation to provide a supportive environment for children with this condition by educating them, harnessing their potential and integrating them into society.
But while Mrs. Maudie quickly accepted her fate and viewed her daughter as a blessing rather than a burden, many parents of children with Down syndrome were unable to move past the anguish, stigma, and trauma. Many are burdened with dealing with the financial and emotional costs of raising a child with special needs.
Once a newborn is confirmed to have Down syndrome, many families often do not experience the joy that comes with the birth of a newborn. It is usually a difficult diagnosis for many parents to deal with. Some of these parents who spoke with PUNCH Healthwise say they’ve had to contend with stigma, financial challenges and access to health care facilities.
Down syndrome as a chromosomal abnormality
According to experts, Down’s syndrome is the most common chromosomal problem in people and the best-known cause of intellectual disability.
Trisomy on chromosome 21 is the main cause of this syndrome and causes several systemic problems. According to experts, lifelong disability and developmental delay are caused by this disorder, and life expectancy is greatly reduced.
Health experts further explained that in all cases of reproduction, both parents pass their genes on to their children. These genes are carried on chromosomes. As the baby’s cells develop, each cell receives her 23 pairs of chromosomes for a total of 46 chromosomes. Half of the chromosomes are maternal and half are paternal.
However, in children with Down syndrome, one of the chromosomes is not properly segregated. Your baby will eventually have three copies of chromosome 21 instead of two, or an extra partial copy. This extra chromosome causes problems as the brain and physical characteristics develop.
Experts say there are three types of Down syndrome known as trisomy 21, mosaicism, and translocations.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mothers over the age of 35 are at a higher risk of having a baby with Down syndrome than younger mothers. According to the CDC, the older the mother, the higher the odds.
Similarly, a 2003 study published by Columbia University Irving Medical Center found that fathers over the age of 40 were twice as likely to have a child with Down syndrome.
But speaking to PUNCH HealthWise, a neurologist, Dr. Tayo Oratoe said prenatal screening can predict a baby’s chances of having a baby with Down’s syndrome, a warning to those who have a child with Down’s syndrome. He stressed that he had no symptoms.
He said babies with Down syndrome usually have several distinguishing features from birth, such as flat facial features, small heads, short necks, protruding tongues, upturned eyes, oddly shaped ears, and low muscle tone. I explained that I have the characteristics.
He added that people with Down syndrome are at increased risk for health conditions such as: Congenital heart disease, hearing loss, decreased vision, cataracts, leukemia, chronic constipation, sleep apnea, dementia, hypothyroidism, and obesity.
According to the United Nations, the estimated incidence of Down syndrome is 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 1,100 people worldwide. About 3,000 to 5,000 children are born with this chromosomal disorder each year.
A high incidence was recorded among young mothers, but searches for environmental factors contributing to non-segregation in this relatively young age group were not clear.
Diagnosing Our Son’s Down Syndrome Is Difficult And Traumatizing – Parents
When Oraogun (not his real name) gave birth to his son Muiwa (not his real name) 28 years ago, he was so handsome that I didn’t know he was sick.
Although the infant seemed healthy, Oraogun’s family troubles began when Mayowa became ill and began to lose weight, eventually being diagnosed with Down’s syndrome at about seven years of age.
Oraogun believes he was slow to find out what was wrong with his son because he knew so little about Down syndrome. Muyiwa said he had trouble with developmental milestones like sitting, crawling, and walking compared to other children his age, but he didn’t feel his son had any medical conditions. There was no.
Oraogun said it was a traumatic experience for her family to accept the fact that her son had Down syndrome after being diagnosed with it. He acknowledged that despite their best efforts, they continued to face difficulties due to the time and money his family had to spend caring for him.
he said:
“We initially enrolled him in mainstream primary education, discovering his inadequacies along the way. I kept him at home.
“In the meantime, we found a special school where he spent several years with other children with special needs. From there, we got a link to the Down Syndrome Foundation in Nigeria. I was.
“How challenging was this for us? Traumatic, I must say. But we were determined to keep pushing. It is a discovery that demonstrates our commitment to helping manage Down syndrome and intellectual disability issues. Encouraged by sharing knowledge with home.
