Melody was not supposed to live very long according to what most doctors predicted. However, she is now 9 1/2 years old and thriving!
My sister was born with Trisomy 18.
Trisomy 18 is a genetic condition in which an individual has a third copy of chromosome 18. The statistics my parents were given when Melody was born were grim. They were told that babies with Trisomy 18 only make it out of the womb alive 10% of the time, and If the babies survive delivery, 50% don’t survive the first week. Of those, only 5-10% make it to a year.
Melody not only made it to a year, she has lived for close to a decade! She is a healthy and happy little girl. Tragically, when babies in the womb have a positive screening test for Trisomy 18, they are labeled “incompatible with life”, and the pressure to abort is overwhelming.
Melody is certainly not “incompatible with life.” She is equally human like the rest of us and full of vitality.
Go to melodysstory.com to read more about her incredible story. (I drew liberally from Melody’s website which is written by my mom, Jennifer Thenhaus.)