The Down Syndrome Diagnosis Network is a national organization that has two major components: online support and medical outreach. Our medical outreach centers on affecting the conversation about Down syndrome during the diagnosis process. Although many of our members...

Dear Doctor,

I was at work when I received the call. The most gut wrenching call to get while you're pregnant. It didn't come from you, it also didn't come from the specialist who performed the NIPTS test, but instead it came from your nurse, who decided that this was t...

Dear Doctor,

You didn't technically deliver our daughter's Down syndrome diagnosis, but your words shortly after have become our battle cry for her life. 

Our diagnosis story started at our 20 week anatomy scan, where 3 "soft markers" for Down syndrome were noted in our...

Dear Doctor,

You instilled hope…a lot of hope…but the wrong kind of hope.  You, a complete stranger whom I had never met, walked into the exam room after our Level II ultrasound and needed to explain what you saw on the ultrasound.  We were just ecstatic to learn we we...

Dear Sara,

On April 5th 2013, I delivered my daughter Winnie at Group Health-Capitol Hill. Very shortly after her birth we were informed that she likely had Down syndrome, a diagnosis that was confirmed a few days later.

We spent 10 days in the Special Care Nursery, much...

Dear Doctor,

Today marks my son's Third birthday, I am so glad I have him. He's here partly because of you. You took a chance on a medication and helped me get pregnant with my son. There is one thing though that I wish I could say—I wish I had gotten the chance to enj...

Dear Geneticist,

The first thing you asked us when we sat down in your office was "Are you continuing the pregnancy?"

That thought had never crossed my mind and hearing those insensitive words stabbed my heart. You were young and I could tell that is what they taught you...

Dear Doctor,

Two years after you delivered the news that our son would be born with Down syndrome, I still struggle when reliving that surreal twenty minutes in your white- walled office.

In fact, I blocked the memory out for a while. My mother had to remind me of the t...

Dear Doctor, 

I found out about Adrian's diagnosis during our routine 18 week ultrasound. I thought the only news I was getting was that he was going to be a boy. I just knew he was going to be a boy. What I didn't know was that he was going to carry something extra sp...

Dear Doctor, 

It was four years ago on this day that we briefly meet, and I mean briefly. I had just given birth to our second child, a little boy we named Carl, and was waiting for him to return from the nursery.  Then you walked in, quickly introduced yourself and the...