Down Syndrome

It would seem to be a crushing weight for a toddler to bear.At almost 2 years old, Austin Brittain has endured more than most adults. He was diagnosed with Down syndrome when he was born. Three days later, doctors discovered a bowel disorder that left Austin's tiny body arched with pain and saddled with a colostomy bag. Shortly afterward, the Brittains were told he might have leukemia.Now Austin is facing his most difficult challenge -- a possible bone marrow transplant from his 4-year-old brother, who has been identified as a donor.

With her golden hair, blue eyes and rosy cheeks, Lily Woodward, 4, resembles one of those dreamy children depicted in once-upon-a-time storybooks -- with a single exception. Lily was born with Down syndrome and, once upon a time, she would not have had the opportunity to participate fully in life as did those storybook children.But Lily, who lives in Cockeysville with her mom and a pet cat named Bunny, takes the bus to preschool at Padonia International School, rides ponies and has traveled to New York City for a modeling job. Not only that, but Lily's beguiling portrait is featured in a 1997 calendar called "Down Right Beautiful," intended to educate the public about Down syndrome.

The labor pains hurt more than the first time she gave birth. Then, at 2 a.m., on a mid-November night four years ago, the doctor announced "perfect" as Joyce Shull's baby boy was born.It wasn't until eight hours later, as she waited to cradle her son, Elliott, in her arms, that Shull learned she was the mother of a child she wished was never born -- a child with Down syndrome.Now claiming that they were incorrectly informed of the risk of giving birth to such a child, Shull and her husband are in court, suing a doctor, nurse practitioner and a Columbia medical practice for the costs of raising the boy.Shull says she would have had an abortion if she knew the fetus had the genetic defect.

THE SPEEDY VERDICT by a Howard Circuit Court that cleared a doctor in the "wrongful birth" of a child with Down syndrome settles the legal question.The verdict was sound. The ethical and moral quandaries raised by this case are far from settled, however.A Hagerstown couple had sued Dr. Swati M. Saraiya and her Columbia medical practice. They alleged that the gynecologist had failed to tell the pregnant woman that she had a high probability of bearing a mentally handicapped child. Joyce Shull testified that she would have terminated the pregnancy had she known of the risk.

A controversial drug, whose proponents insist it does wonders for children with Down syndrome, is spotlighted on CBS.Dixie Lawrence Tafoya and her adopted daughter, Madison, are at the center of tonight's edition of "48 Hours" (10 p.m.-11 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13), "Hope or Hype." Determined to see that her daughter, born with Down syndrome, lives as normal a life as possible, Tafoya researched the condition and came up with a treatment that involves Nutrivene D (a combination of vitamins and amino acids)

Child with Down syndrome has been a privilegeRecent articles concerning the Hagerstown couple's lawsuit on behalf of their son have prompted me to respond. I am the mother of three children ages 12 through 18, and an experienced health professional.Raising our daughter, a child with Down syndrome (not a ''Down syndrome child''), has been a privilege, not a burden. When she has needed services not available at school we have sought them out, just as we took her to preschool, dance and piano lessons, camps and church activities.

Ending a lawsuit that posed moral and malpractice issues, a Howard County jury decided last night that a Columbia doctor and medical practice should not be held responsible for the birth of a boy with Down syndrome.The jury's decision clears Dr. Swati M. Saraiya and Woman to Woman Health Care of any wrongdoing in a case where the boy's parents alleged that they had not been told of the high risk of having a retarded child and wanted at least $2 million to help raise him.When the jury announced its verdict -- after an hour and 15 minutes of deliberation -- the boy's mother, Joyce Shull, looked as if she might collapse.

In yesterday's Howard County edition of The Sun, the Ellicott City/Elkridge community column incorrectly reported that Ben Harrison had Down syndrome at the time of his death last year.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 9/23/97

Howard County police are searching for a 20-year-old man with Down syndrome who wandered away from a group home in Columbia yesterday morning.Samuel McDaniel was last seen at the group home in the 6800 block of Happy Heart Lane in east Columbia's Owen Brown village at 7: 25 a.m. yesterday. Police said McDaniel, from Randallstown, recently moved to Columbia and is unfamiliar with the area.McDaniel may seek shelter in a fast-food restaurant or shopping center area. He has the mental capacity of a 9- to 13-year-old, police said.

A 20-year-old man with Down syndrome who disappeared from a group home in Columbia Thursday morning was found unharmed in Oxon Hill in Prince George's County that night, Howard County police said.Samuel McDaniel was returned to the home in the 6800 block of Happy Heart Lane in Owen Brown village on Thursday night, Sgt. Steven Keller, a police spokesman, said.Keller said Friday that McDaniel, who recently moved to Columbia from Randallstown, was free to come and go from the group home as he pleased.

A Randallstown man charged with assaulting a 7-year-old at a Baltimore County elementary school is scheduled for trial in District Court on Nov. 19, according to court records. Ronald Andre Matthews, 27, of the 4900 block of Old Court Road was charged with second-degree assault last month after he was accused of pushing a student at Winfield Elementary against a cafeteria wall several times, according to a police report. The incident occurred about noon Sept. 22, witnesses told police.

Sarah Palin is an electoral rabbit. If Sen. Barack Obama, the Democrats and various liberal interest groups are smart, they won't give chase. Tonight, the Alaska governor will ascend the stage at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul to deliver her acceptance speech. Mrs. Palin is smart, attractive and a good speaker. Her personal story is compelling, if a bit unusual. She is the wife of a union member and the mother of five. Her children include a son, her youngest, with Down syndrome and an unwed 17-year-old daughter whom we recently learned is five months pregnant.

The young woman stood by the auditorium door, the black cap pinned to her long dark hair, an academic gown draped gracefully around her shoulders. She paused for a moment, then, her head very straight, processed forward. As she passed a group of exuberant relatives snapping photos yesterday, Margoshia "Mimi" Donaldson was just like any other 2008 graduate of Parkville High School. And yet, in some ways, she is quite different. Mimi, who has Down syndrome, has overcome more obstacles in her 19 years than many twice her age. With the support of her family and teachers, the young woman has succeeded in inclusive classes, busted her signature moves at school dances and made plans to study on the campus of Towson University in the fall.

BAGHDAD -- A Baghdad mental hospital administrator has been arrested on suspicion of supplying mental patients to insurgents for use in suicide bombings, a U.S. military spokesman said yesterday. The interim administrator at al-Rashad psychiatric hospital was arrested Sunday and is being questioned in U.S. custody, said the spokesman, Rear Adm. Greg Smith. The arrest was part of the probe into double suicide bombings Feb. 1 in Baghdad, which claimed at least 99 lives and was the worst such attack in the capital in nine months.

BAGHDAD -- Senior American military officials produced photographs yesterday that they said showed the bodies of two women suicide bombers who a day earlier attacked two popular pet markets, causing Baghdad's deadliest blasts in months. The photographs showed the lifeless faces of two dark-haired women with oblique eye fissures, a wide gap between the eyes and a flat nose bridge - characteristics consistent with Down syndrome. "There are some indications that these two women were mentally handicapped," said Army Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, the commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad.

Thirty-one years ago, Colby Rodowsky, a Baltimore mother and housewife, got her chance. An English major at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, she had always wanted to write, and now that the youngest of her six children was out of kindergarten, she'd have a bit of quiet time each afternoon. She signed up for a tutorial with a writing coach, submitted a book idea, and, with a lot of encouragement from her husband, Lawrence, wrote her first novel for children. "I had no idea whether anyone would publish it," says Rodowsky, 74, at an interview in her Baltimore home.

It's a good day for Jesse Zanca. He sits silently on the couch in his mother's living room, staring straight ahead through big glasses. When addressed directly, he grins shyly and gives brief answers to questions. He likes his group home. It's in Stone Mountain, Ga. He likes to eat hamburgers. Jesse, 37, was once garrulous and sociable, said his mother, Jane. He worked in the kitchen of a nursing home and was engaged to be married. "Jesse, in his mid-20s, had really come a long way," Jane Zanca said.

Dennis Wayne "Denny" Specht, who relished bowling and dining out with his father, died Monday at 52 after overcoming many limitations associated with Down syndrome. His death, caused by complications from Alzheimer's disease, occurred at Hospice of Frederick County. After his birth in Frederick in 1954, doctors told his parents that his mental retardation would likely be so severe that he should be institutionalized. But William C. Specht Jr. and his wife, Hilda "Tillie" Specht, disagreed.

Nearly 8 million children each year are born with birth defects that are genetic in origin, and fully 70 percent of them could be prevented or mitigated, according to the first worldwide study commissioned by the March of Dimes. In the absence of treatment, at least 3.3 million of the children die before the age of 5, while 3.2 million are disabled for life, according to the study released yesterday. "Our report identifies for the first time the severe and previously hidden global toll of birth defects," said Dr. Jennifer L. Howse, president of the March of Dimes.

A special-education teacher who was recently acquitted of a charge that she had assaulted an 8-year-old developmentally disabled boy said she is hopeful she will be able to return to teaching. Soon after Kathi Jean McConnell was charged in May, school officials reassigned her to the special-education department at the Board of Education's central office in Westminster, where she has continued to earn her teacher's salary while handling secretarial duties for a program that aids children without health insurance, she said.