It was a day of celebration at Kiddie Kampus in Alliance on Thursday, as students gathered together to celebrate World Down’s Syndrome Day, honoring one of their classmates, Leah Gonzalez, 3, by wearing colorful and mismatched socks.
World Down’s Syndrome Day is celebrated on March 21, representing the third copy of the 21st chromosome, Candy Gonzalez, Leah’s mother, explained.
“We just want to share awareness that they’re worthy,” said Candy. “They just want to be accepted like everybody else.”
Shawna Rischling, Leah’s teacher, noted that it is an important way to raise awareness about Down’s Syndrome.
“We need to make sure these children get what they need in their school districts and communities, and just support for the families,” Rischling said. “It’s just important.”
Candy said that when she was pregnant with Leah, it was about 12 weeks into the pregnancy that they discovered Leah had Down’s Syndrome. She explained that the journey was a difficult one, finding the support she needed from others.
“You have doctors that are very supportive,” said Candy. “Unfortunately, I didn’t have a doctor who was very supportive. Doctor just said, ‘they’re gonna be a burden; they’re not going to live very long, poor quality of life.’ I didn’t know anything about Down’s Syndrome. We decided to keep her, and when I gave birth, she was in the NICU for complication of lung development, which is common, and holes in her heart as well, which is also common. It was a hard month. She was in the NICU for about a month and a half before we were able to bring her home.
“It’s a lot of work,” Candy said. “We want to keep up with her physical therapy. She has four therapies a week just to keep up with her development and reaching her milestones. But, they get there, everybody in their own time, as long as we love and encourage, and provide her with the necessary services, she kind of blossoms from there.”
Candy said that the entire pregnancy was a stressful one as she learned the best way to raise a child with special needs. She found the strength to continue on, however, leaning on her husband for support.
“It was a rollercoaster,” said Candy. “It was scary. I kind of just kept to myself because in my mind, I thought I did something wrong. I didn’t share with my family until I was maybe eight months pregnant. I did share with my husband. He was the one who was very supportive and said that we’re going to love her no matter what. I say it was a rollercoaster because there was always something wrong every three to four weeks that we had to go see a doctor. It was a lot.”
Seeing Leah’s fellow students join in the day of celebration, Candy said, brought joy to her and her family.
“I know that as she gets older, we’re hoping that we can keep this going annually, and show her that, ‘Hey, you’re accepted,’ and I just love that everyone’s been supportive and engaging and accepting, including her,” Candy said. “The kiddos are so small, but they love her so much, and she loves them. It just brings so much joy to our family. Their disability doesn’t define them.”
Rischling emphasized that having such an inclusive group of students helps so much to have children with special needs feel accepted in their schools, and the importance of having programs in place to support them with their needs.
“Leah’s helped so many other children because she is so social,” said Rischling. “One of the characteristics of a child with Down’s is that they are extremely social, kind and loving. She just brings so much joy to everyone, it truly is amazing to me. As schools, we need to support, and I think Alliance Public Schools does a great job. She gets all services here, she gets OT, PT, Speech, Resource, everything she gets right here, which is so nice. All I would say high quality, the people who work with her are amazing, and everyone loves her so much. The support from the family is phenomenal. That makes a huge difference, too. Leah is very blessed.”
Candy said she appreciates the support that they have seen from the community.
“Allowing her to be involved with these other little kiddos has helped her grow,” said Candy. “We’ve seen that since she’s been engaged with school and play dates, she’s grown. Her vocabulary, other abilities, to run, and communicate. She’s still working on the communication, but her peers are helping her with that as they engage with her.