The Human Development Institute’s National Center for Prenatal and Postnatal Resources raised about $1800 from its Mother’s Day Campaign to distribute packets of resources for expectant parents learning about a diagnosis of Down syndrome. With the funds donated to this “Shaping the Future” campaign, the National Center can deliver a complete packet of our resources, “Diagnosis to Delivery: A Pregnant Mother’s Guide to Down Syndrome,” “Understanding a Down Syndrome Diagnosis,” “Understanding Prenatal Screening and Testing for Chromosome Conditions,” and “Delivering a Down Syndrome Diagnosis to every obstetric medical residency program in the US. The purpose of the campaign is to prepare obstetric medical students to answer the fundamental questions expectant parents have when learning about a diagnosis: “What is life like for people living with Down syndrome?” and “Where can I get support?”
Last year our Mother’s Day campaign earned about $22,500 to fund the distribution of materials to all the maternal fetal medicine specialists and prenatal genetic counselors nationwide (about 3,000 total packets.) This included a significant donation from a family who received our materials and found them so helpful that they wanted to make sure other families received our resources also. Our goal this year is to ensure that a rising generation of medical providers can give patients the accurate, up-to-date, and balanced information they need.
One new mom told us, “I had so much more fear and anxiety than I imagined. When I found the Baby Center board and the Down Syndrome Pregnancy website, I finally had a lifeline. The book talked about the medical information, but it also talked about the reality of living with Down syndrome. I was still scared, but I was no longer alone. I also had the one thing I needed most: HOPE.”
