Mother, 45, discovered her unborn twins had Down syndrome and really struggled with their diagnosis… then she met them

Julie McConnel already had four children when she found out she was pregnant – at age 45 — again.  She knew her age might cause her to have multiples or a child with Down syndrome.  She was shocked when both happened.

I like it that she is honest with her initial struggle with this diagnosis, and even considered putting them up for adoption.  She feared she and her husband wouldn’t be able to handle both children with special needs.  Then, they were born!

Now she’s telling everyone about her experience to hopefully change people’s minds about Down syndrome.

She said: ‘You can have expectations of how life is going to be, but it might not pan out the way you imagined.

‘Now that I have Charlie and Milo, I understand that and I have more compassion than I ever had before.

‘They’re not the result of a bad lifestyle choice I made, or a reflection of race or economics or where you live in the world and I hope that by sharing our story I can open people’s eyes a bit.

‘Everywhere we go, people love the boys because they’re special, but I know this won’t always be the case when they’re older and it hurts to think about.

‘I want people to see that there are people out there who are different, but it doesn’t make them any less valuable.

‘They’re just the way they’re supposed to be.’