A mom from Colorado Springs was left distraught after medical professionals advised her to give away her daughter, who was born with Down syndrome.
Doctors told the mom, Renee, that her newborn daughter, Kennedy Garcia, would have a low quality of life, so they couldn’t advise her to keep the baby.
According to the medical professionals, Kennedy would be wearing nappies as an adult, and it would be difficult for her mother to raise her. They advised that it would be kinder for her and better for her own baby if she were put in a specialized institution.
One of the doctors even told Renee, that she should just give her baby up for adơрtion.
The mother was devastated by these suggestions that she kicked all the medical professionals out of her hospital room. She refused to give up on her baby and their future together. This determination was strengthened when one medical professional gave her hope.
Kennedy met her boyfriend, who is an artist and an actor, when she was just 12. Mathew spotted her with her mother at an audition for an advert.
Who Gave Hope to the Mom and What Did She Do?
Renee revealed that when her daughter was born, she was heartbrơkеn that her newborn had Down syndrome because doctors painted a gleam and negative picture for her. She added that the doctors and nurses didn’t even have an idea of what the child’s future really held. Until one night, she recalled:
“It was only the next night when a kind midwife told me Kennedy was beautiful and just likе her daughter, who also had the condition, that I felt a glimmer of hope.”
This kind midwife was the first one to give Renee a positive picture of her daughter’s life. Renee said the first question she asked the midwife, whose daughter also had Down syndrome, was if her own daughter could walk.
The midwife laughed at Renee’s question and informed her that her daughter was 16 and could walk. Renee didn’t really know what Down syndrome entailed, but the midwife was the first person who lifted her crushed spirit.
Kennedy’s mom, who has three other kids, listened to the midwife talk about her daughter, which made her realize that the teenager sounded just likе other teenage girls she knew.
Thus, Renee chose to keep her baby. And on Kennedy’s first birthday, she returned to the hospital where Kennedy was born and left a special care basket in the labor ward for new mothers whose newborns have Down syndrome.
The basket contained copies of positive books that helped the 40-year-old understand her daughter’s chromosome disorder, the life she would live, and gorgeous onesies with slogans celebrating their special babies.
Renee also left her contact card at the hospital and pleaded with midwives to give her contact information to new mothers of daughters likе hers. The mom confessed that many mothers reached out to her over the years because of the special basket:
“I hope having a positive conversation with me and hearing everything Kennedy has achieved savеd those moms from the unnecessary trâumа and anguish I went through.”
Renee recalled that were it not for the midwife, she wouldn’t have had the courage to keep her daughter. She said the midwife gave her hope for the future, and now her daughter is just likе girls her age—she has friends, loves to dance, sing, and experiment with hair and makeup, adding:
“She has brought so much joy and laughter into our lives and has grown into a gorgeous, funny young woman with the world at her feet.”
