Jump up, jump up

I had a really good day at med school last week. There aren't heaps of days at med school where you come home and go "I really learned something today." The knowledge just seems to accumulate most of the time, so it's hard to feel you're learning anything. The best part though, was that it wasn't necessarily about medicine, but about life.

We are on to our genetics block at the minute. This is after what can only be described as a very quick blast through cardiac, resp and renal. It is proving to be an interesting stage in my education. I did a semester of genetics as a young man. So a lot of it is familiar. But our case for the week was Trisomy 21, Down syndrome.

I think, for a lot of people, the thought of having a kid with a birth defect is akin to a nightmare. I personally, don't know how I would cope. It's a scary prospect. I guess every parent hopes their kid will be 'normal.' Every parent has certain preconceptions about what their child will be like. Every parents has ambitions, hope and dreams for their children. And to have those shattered in moments is gut wrenching.

Because of this, and the availability of tests, a lot of kids with Down syndrome are aborted before they get to term. The majority in fact. I have my ethical qualms about abortion, but I certainly had a wrestle with the issue about what I would do. But for many people, a Down syndrome child comes to term.

A lot of people in my year were scared by the prospect having to raise a DS kid. So the School of Medicine organised a BBQ with some families and kids from the Downs syndrome society. And you know what? It was amazing. Absolutely amazing.

It was great to meet the families and the kids over a BBQ. It was amazing to see how the families had gone about raising their children. About how they had coped, come to terms with what it means for them, and how they still had dreams for their child. Albeit new ones. The highlight was the panel discussion. Hearing the parents candidly discuss their views on abortion, and whether, if they had known they would have terminated their baby. It was really heavy stuff. But really encouraging. It was just so obvious how much the parents loved their kids.

The point that reinforced this for me, was hearing about how the blokes coped. One bloke held it together while his wife had a break down. The other guy went home and shifted 8 tonnes of gravel. But the guy, who wept while recalling his story to us was the most interesting. He was talking about he finally got a daughter, after having three sons. And he had all the dreams of walking his daughter down the aisle, and watching her grow up. And how when the doctor walked in and told them their brand new baby girl had Downs, it just gutted him, and it took six months for him to come to terms with it. Now though, she is his pride and joy. It was really moving.

I have so much more to say about the arvo. But I came home buzzed. I was left with the impression, that although it's tough. It's not the end of the world. And for lots of these parents, they still have a brand new baby. And that's pretty grand regardless of their chromosomal makeup!

I wish I could be a big man about it. But I'm still torn as to what I would do when I found out though. Perhaps every father to be should get a pile of gravel just in case.