After learning his unborn baby had Down syndrome, FBI agent and star athlete Heath White demanded that the child be aborted. He is, after all, a champion even as a kid. Not only was he among the most popular athletes throughout this school days, he also went on to excel in all fields he pursued – except law school which he quit in favor of a chance to be in the air force.
A baby with Down syndrome would only be a weakness for him, it would be his failure! For weeks he tried forcing his wife to terminate the pregnancy yet never did she back down from her resolve to bring this baby to life.
It bothered Heath that his wife decided to keep the baby for what would people think about him? Surely, they would say he was not a true champion for creating such a weak child.
His wife, Jennifer, feared he would leave; especially because he soon became recluse and stopped doing another thing he is passionate about: running. It seems like the marriage would fall apart but Jennifer never let go of the baby.
When the child was born, they named her Paisley. Though his mom tried to coax him into loving the baby, saying Paisley did not really look a lot like she had Down syndrome, he knew she was only trying to soothe him. One look at Paisley and you know she has Down syndrome!
Then, a miracle happened a few weeks later…and it changed his life forever.
Watch it unfold here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LkElaCHQJE
Down Syndrome
Used interchangeably with “Down’s syndrome”, Down syndrome is a term used for the medical condition characterized by the presence of an extra copy of chromosome 21.
Advances in medical equipment and diagnostics have made it possible to detect whether the child has Down syndrome even while still inside the mother’s womb. Often, especially in places like the US where abortion is legal, the pregnancy is terminated because of the expected difficulties the family will surely experience if the child is born, especially because the life expectancy of a person with Down syndrome is around 50 to 60 years.