Welcome new families!!

[Guest guest]

I checked my email last night after a bit of preparing-for-school hiatus and I

can't believe how many new families we have!! To all of you I'd like to say

WELCOME! You've come to a good place for information, support and advice. Feel

free to speak up when you have a question or concern. There are some great

people here who have already been through it all before and are gems of widsom

and experience.

And now a bit about me. Aidan is our first-born and when he wasn't speaking much

by his 2nd birthday the Dr. ordered some tests and told me he suspected DS.

After crying all the way home, I told my husband and we were both just shocked

and in disbelief. We didn't have any other signs except for his speech and a

slight difference in his eyes. When we got the diagnosis of mosaic Down syndrome

we hit a whole NEW place of confusion and heartache. Of course, it didn't help

that the Dr. made some comment about how he didn't know anything about MDS so

" good luck! " Even after meeting with the genetecist we still felt just as lost

and confused. Having the diagnosis of DS was shocking enough, but then to not

have any idea how to find out about MDS and what our son's future would look

like was just so much more frustrating (as I'm sure you're all familiar with).

Anyway, so long story short, we stumbled upon IMDSA online and this support

group and the rest is

history. Aidan's been doing really well once we got him the early intervention

and we're all sorting things out one year, one month, one day at a time.

After awhile of being in the support group I decided I wanted to give back and

help IMDSA in any way I could. I became the Newsletter Editor for IMDSA's

quarterly online newsletter, MOSAIC WORLD. The newsletter is one of the benefits

of having an annual membership and is filled with information, tips, and

articles from professionals, members and individuals with MDS. Along with your

membership and quarterly newsletters (among other benefits) you also have access

to our archives of past newsletters.

For more information about membership go to www.imdsa.org. If you ever have any

questions about the newsletter, or would like to be considered for one of the

member features, please feel free to email me at stephanie@.... Our

newsletter is a valuable resource for parents of children with MDS of ANY age so

I hope you all take advantage of what it has to offer. Our next newsletter is

due out in November so hurry and get your membership before then! Also, we are

always looking for feedback from our members so if there is a certain topic

you'd like featured, some information you need from one of our professionals, or

a review of a certain product please let us know! If we know what our members'

needs are we can make the newsletter an even better resource for you so email

today!

So now you know all about me, let's hear all about you!  Welcome to the group!!

IMDSA Newsletter Editor

Mom to Aidan (MDS) 6, a 4, 2, Evan 5 months

stephanie@...