(LifeSiteNews) — Throughout October, we celebrate Down Syndrome Awareness Month; it’s a time to create awareness and to acknowledge the accomplishments of those with Down syndrome. Team Iron Will—a nonprofit that celebrates “the perseverance of children with Down syndrome” and that helps families by providing much-needed therapy equipment—chose October 1 as the day to launch its latest initiative entitled Champion Possibility.
Founded by parents Catherine and Andrew Daub after their youngest son Will, now five, was born with Down syndrome, Team Iron Will asks: “What if we looked at our children not through the lens of what they might never do, but through the lens of who they already are—unique human beings created in God’s image—and what becomes possible when we believe in them, invest in them, and invite the world to do the same?”
Champion Possibility will run indefinitely, as it is intended to encourage parents and caregivers to “choose hope over fear.”
As Catherine can attest, when parents first find out, either through a prenatal diagnosis or after the baby’s birth, that their child has Down syndrome, “most people are filled with fear.” She explained that the fear she felt wasn’t that Will had Down syndrome, it was whether she would carry him safely to term, whether he would face medical problems, and how society would treat him.
Will did face several medical problems and setbacks during infancy and still has battles to face, but the love of family and the support and strength of the Down syndrome community helped the Daubs navigate these trying times.
This is what inspired them to found Team Iron Will, an organization that gives back to the Down syndrome community that journeyed with them when Will was a baby. Now, through its advocacy and by gifting therapy and medical equipment to families who need it, they shine light in the darkness and offer hope where despair has crept in.
Defying limitations
Catherine explained that one of the main goals of Champion Possibility is to encourage parents to focus on what their child can do rather than on what he is not yet able to do. She stated that it’s crucial to have “the mindset of wondering what’s possible as opposed to fearing the limitations.” And she said that TIW wants to help change that narrative as it encourages families and even those in the medical profession to ask, “How can I help my child get to where he needs to be?”
She hopes that people come to see that the possibilities are endless for kids with Down syndrome. And now, on the Team Iron Will site, parents can share their stories of amazing children like little Cooper, who worked so hard to be able to walk with a walker and then on his own. Or Veya, who recently passed away after multiple health struggles but whose brief life taught her family about hope and about the true meaning of selfless love.
Veya’s mom wrote for the site:
Our daughter, Veya Hope, spent her entire life (a year and a half) within the walls of a hospital room. We never got to take her home. And despite the fact that she lacked experiences beyond those walls, she filled our lives and so many others with something far greater than we could have imagined: hope…. One of the greatest shifts in our perspective came when we understood that this diagnosis was never a tragedy, despite what the medical staff first told us. Rather, it was an invitation. An invitation into a deeper walk with God, into a fuller understanding of love, and into a community we might never have known otherwise. We came to really understand that every single life is sacred, intentionally created and beautifully designed by God. Our daughter, with her extra chromosome, was not an accident but a masterpiece.
Truly, each child is a masterpiece.
The TIW site also features the story of a young man named John Paul Lambert, who understands better than most that children with Down syndrome are gifts to be cherished. John Paul, who is just 15, came to know Team Iron Will a couple years ago when it helped his family obtain some therapy equipment for his little brother, who has Down syndrome. John Paul’s American family has lived in Armenia since 2008; they moved there so his father could take a position with an organization that helps the poor. He and his father had been training to run a half-marathon together in early October, but his father passed away from a brain tumor in mid-September. Though still grieving, John Paul decided to run the race in honor of his father, but he also chose to do something incredibly selfless. He asked for sponsors so he could raise money for Team Iron Will. And in just a week, he raised $4,500!
That money allowed TIW to help multiple families, including one who hoped to begin equine therapy for their three-year-old daughter to help her develop the strength to begin walking. John Paul is truly a blessing to his family and now to the wider Down syndrome community.
Every child a gift
Since its inception in 2020, TIW has helped families in 34 countries and 45 states obtain the necessary therapy or medical equipment that they would have otherwise been unable to afford or that insurance would not cover. And in just the past six weeks, the organization has gifted 36 oral motor speech therapy scholarships (seven internationally and 29 in the U.S.) and nearly a dozen pieces of medical and therapy equipment.
Teaching families and caregivers to see the abilities of their children rather than the limitations, to presume competence instead of focusing on obstacles, and to educate about the true gift of every child is what Team Iron Will strives to do each day. Through its outreach, advocacy, and direct help to families, TIW has touched countless lives.
The Daubs are truly champions in their own right, as they use their own gifts to work tirelessly to champion Will and other people with Down syndrome and to help quell the fear that is so pervasive today.
The love and compassion shown by John Paul, by the families of those with Down syndrome, and by the Daub family proves that fear is useless and that we must live in hope—hope in humanity, hope in the assistance of our neighbors, and most of all hope in God and His love.
What becomes possible when we believe in our children? Anything.
Let us follow the example of Team Iron Will and work every day to become our children’s greatest champions, for it is only then that we can show the world that every person has value.
Susan Ciancio is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and has worked as a writer and editor since 2003; more than 16 of those years have been in the pro-life sector. Currently, she is the editor of American Life League’s Celebrate Life Magazine—the nation’s premier Catholic pro-life magazine. She is also the director and executive editor of ALL’s Culture of Life Studies Program—a pre-K-12 Catholic pro-life education organization.
