The WSA is proud to partner with Team IMPACT (TI) to spread the word on how young individuals with Williams syndrome can participate in the inspiring program.
Team IMPACT is a two-year commitment and relationship between college sports teams and individuals with special needs that “connects children with serious and chronic illnesses to local college athletic teams, forming life-long bonds and life-changing outcomes.”
In the past few days, we have learned about several families who are dealing with the worst possible scenarios for individuals with Williams syndrome. Two sudden deaths and several other potentially devastating hospitalizations have made it impossible for us not to face the most difficult “potential” for those with Williams syndrome. Our hearts go out to the families of Alan and Alex, and to every family who is watching their child struggle with medical or other types of challenges, and feeling powerless in their efforts to help.
How many cards did you receive over the past holiday? And how many included personal notes to “fill you in” on the busy lives of your friends and relatives? The number of cards I receive today is far less than in years’ past, but I look at them differently, and they look different. There are fewer “holiday letters” but many more “photo essays”.
Do you watch Family Feud? It’s my son’s favorite show. In true WS style he “sort of” remembers the exact questions that got the biggest laughs from Richard Dawson, or Richard Karn, John O'Hurley, or Steve Harvey, and delights in repeating them. His favorite is “in what month does a woman’s pregnancy become apparent”? The answer given by the contestant….
When Ben was diagnosed with Williams syndrome 27 years ago, Gary and I were alone in Ben’s hospital room. There were no family close by, there was no internet to consult. We were provided with a 20+ year old medical paper, and the news that our lives and that of our 6 week old son would be immeasurably different than we had thought just a few days earlier.
