By PATRICIA AURORA M. CRUZ
FOURTEEN years ago, Nick and Luz Ellis welcomed their third child into the world, a bouncing baby girl they named Luiza.
What should have been an occasion for pure celebration was shadowed by a secret that the couple at first decided to keep even from Mrs. Ellis’ parents: Their daughter had Down Syndrome (DS).
“We could not accept yet that we would have a special child. We were in denial. We were praying, hoping that she was not a special child, that she just had narrow eyes,” Mrs. Ellis, speaking in Filipino, recounted.
“Para kang pinagsakluban ng langit at lupa (It’s as if my world fell apart),” Mr. Ellis said of how he felt.
Down Syndrome is a genetic condition in which a person inherits an extra copy of one chromosome. Each individual has 23 pairs of chromosomes, half coming from the father and half from the mother. (World Down Syndrome Day is observed every March 21.—Ed.)