Cathal’s Mam « Our Jacob

I’ve had my behind soft-kicked by His Girl Friday because I’ve been so lazy. And fair play. We’ve been busy and never seem to be on top of things, but that’s no excuse.

I wanted to mention how delighted we are with Cathal’s progress. We’ve gotten very fond of the wee man (even though we STILL haven’t met yet) and we were all anxious when his cardio surgery was announced. Thankfully he’s past that now and well on the way to terrorising the household. His supergran Nan P has been doing a great job of keeping us up to date, and now we’re getting the full, dramatic story from his mum too, now that she has a minute. Makes for nervy reading by times, but cardio issues are a reality for two out of five kids with DS, so it’s important to know.

On a different note entirely, a grim smile was afforded by the news that Sequenom’s shares fell by a huge amount last week. You may remember quite a while back that I wrote on the release of their ‘wonder drug’ that could detect DS in utero. The fear being, of course, that early positive detection would mean early abortions. This won’t stop them, of course, but losing money is the only thing that this particular shower of monkeys will ever understand. *** them. (Insert triumphalist swear word here.)

I wrote a while back about August’s upcoming World DS Congress. I had hoped to attend, but at €375 per guardian attending, and €200 per person with DS, it’s unjustifiably steep for us. I’m sure they’ll do well, I know it’s a huge organisational task for them and the costs are no doubt enormous but nonetheless I am a little dismayed that the prices are quite so high.

Finally, on an up note, I want to link to Hammie and give her a massive round of applause for the great work she’s been doing on her own website and also at Irish Autism Action. This is one tireless lady and I have huge admiration for her. Drop in and learn a thing or two about what the autie crowd are doing to push their agenda. Plus, if you want to see what a great big softie of a Boyzone member looks like when he’s having a little cry, Hammie’s the woman to go to. 😉