CAREY’S CORNER {carey peña reports}
I HAVE A VOICE Speaking up for the Down Syndrome community
Carey Peña | Contributing Writer
“It was kind of sad. Nobody celebrated her birth. For me, as a first-time mom, it was hard. I felt very isolated.” When Jennifer Gage gave birth to her first child, Kaitlyn, it wasn’t a “typical” new-mom experience. Kaitlyn was diagnosed with Down syndrome, and at the time, 23 years ago, there was far less knowledge, acceptance and awareness. For Jennifer Gage, the world was spinning. That is until she found her voice. “I wanted to give Kaitlyn a typical experience,” Gage told me. So she set off as a determined young mother to do just that. Gage would soon find out about a national organization called GiGi’s Playhouse. The founder, Chicago resident Nancy Gianni, calls herself 18 FRONTDOORS MEDIA | JANUARY 2020
the “Chief Belief Officer.” She’s been named a CNN Hero and has been featured on national television, including “The Today Show.” On the GiGi’s Playhouse website, Gianni wrote: “When my daughter GiGi was born, I thought my family’s life would change forever. About an hour after she was born, the doctors suspected she had Down syndrome. Panic was welling up inside me, but I was afraid for anyone to see it. As soon as my husband and I made eye contact, I said, ‘If anyone can handle this, we can.’” Both Gianni and Gage talk about the pain they felt when people came to visit after their babies were born. “There were hugs of sympathy, not congratulations,” Gianni said. “They would tiptoe toward the bassinet and seem afraid to look inside to see what she would look like.”