Avery Meets a Mighty Quin!

Meet Julia Quin - AKA Julsie. Julia was born to our friends, Datra & Paul Quin on April 21st of this year with a condition known as Trisomy 18. Read the following three paragraphs from the Trisomy 18 Foundation Web site to learn more.

At conception, 23 chromosomes from the father and 23 chromosomes from the mother combine to create a baby with 46 chromosomes in each cell, two of each type. Each chromosome holds a particular "position" in the cell and carries certain genetic material. A trisomy occurs when a baby has three chromosomes in one position instead of the normal two.

The most common trisomy is Trisomy 21, also known as Down Syndrome, where a baby has three of the twenty-first chromosome. Trisomy 18 is the second most common trisomy and occurs when a baby has three of the eighteenth chromosome. This results in 47 chromosomes instead of the normal 46 in the affected cells. It is this extra genetic material that causes the problems associated with Trisomy 18.

Trisomy 18 is also called Edwards syndrome (or Edward's syndrome) and occurs in about 1:3000 live births. Unlike Down syndrome, Trisomy 18 is usually fatal, with most of the babies dying before birth and those who do make it to birth typically living only a few days. However, a small number of babies (<10%) live at least one year.

Just a day past her two-month birthday, Julia is proving to be a fighter. I assure you all that she gets that from her mom. Just like a normal two-month old baby, Julia cries, eats, poops, pees, smiles and snuggles.

Avery and I had the pleasure of meeting Julia and while I've heard that babies have a special bond, I got to see it first hand. Avery quickly showed the bond she had with Julia with a look of concern I had never seen on her face before every time she would hear Julia cry.

The Tinsley Family will be making a donation to the Trisomy 18 Foundation in Julia's honor and we encourage all of our blog readers do the same as research for this condition continues to be underfunded. For more information on Trisomy 18 and how to make a donation, click on the link
http://www.trisomy18.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage.

I'm thankful I got to meet Julia and that Avery will have this memory to one day read. I watched in awe as my friend effortlessly took care of her daughter like she herself was a practicing pediatrician and I watched as her husband did the very same.

As Bob Dylan said... "You'll not see nothing like the Mighty Quin(s)"