Parents of children with Down syndrome mentor other parents

by Karen Garloch from The Charlotte Observer and Centre Daily Times:
About two hours after Melissa Thomason gave birth to her son Welles, she and her husband learned their baby had the chromosomal abnormality known as Down syndrome.
"I remember sitting in the hospital room and having a lot of uncertainty about what that diagnosis meant for us, what it meant for him." She wished she could talk to someone who'd had the same experience.
So when the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Charlotte (N.C.) recruited parents to become mentors for new parents of babies with Down syndrome, Thomason was among the first to sign up. "I felt like I needed to be that person for someone else."Through the "First Call" program, Thomason, 32, of Harrisburg, N.C., has been matched with two other families who learned of their babies' Down syndrome through prenatal genetic testing.
Both couples had chosen to continue their pregnancies before they met Thomason, but she wouldn't have been surprised if they had considered abortion. If she had known in advance, Thomason said, "I would have had serious questions about whether I wanted to continue the pregnancy or not.
"Today though, Welles is 11 months old, and Thomason feels differently."