Life after 50 for Wendy.

Wendy is fifty!! – Wow, what a monumental milestone. One we didn’t ever dare to believe or think would happen!! Congratulations Wendy all your counting down to turning “Five-Oh” was the highlight of 2018

Wendy, when born, with Down Syndrome in September of 1968 was given less than 15 days to live. She is a miracle and yes she is lucky and we are too, just to know her, to love her and have her filling our lives with energy, entertaining quotes, and antics is a gift we never take for granted.

This blog is a new means to celebrate her being fifty, to share her fifties in a public way, a true celebration of her newest decades goals. The biggest goal of her fifties is to travel to a new country every year and we as her family are here to help facilitate that dream and make it a reality while writing her life story.

Her story is interesting and rich, filled with much poor health but lots of love, and a lot of rich life experiences.

Many beliefs about people with Down Syndrome from the 1960s have changed greatly which is something to be applauded. As I begin the journey to write Wendy’s story reading our mother’s diaries I am literally gobsmacked at some of the literature quoted and stored within the pages society, in general, has made very big changes towards acceptance and understanding of all people with special needs.

As Wendys younger sister and full-time carer, I have been researching what life is like after 50 for women with down syndrome and I am finding it difficult to come up with relatable or reliable content. I have seen studies but they are lean on the information I am seeking.

Our mother died last year as a result of Alzheimer’s there is a number of links to down syndrome people suffering with it too.

One study mentions a link of mothers who have had their down syndrome child young – under 35 are more prone to Alzheimer’s than the average woman and also more prone than women who’ve had their Downs Syndrome child after 35. I want to learn more about this as well.

For now, I want to celebrate going into 2019 with Wendy a young 50 years old who has such a zest and passion for life, is fully involved in her group activities and programs that she doesn’t understand she can’t have more programs because there are no more days in the week to fit them.

Freely send us messages on our contact us page and we will be happy to respond to you.

“If you haven’t grown up by age 50 then you don’t have to”

Anon

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