Step up to help Morgan and other children with Down syndrome
Morgan Weiss was born prematurely in October of 2002, weighing four pounds and one ounce. She was transported to Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, where she was diagnosed with Down syndrome, or Trisomy 21, and it was found she had two holes in the atrioventricular (AV) canal in her heart. After about six weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) she was allowed to come home. Doctors promised nothing and her family didn’t know what to expect.
Morgan was enrolled in the Birth to Three program; this consisted of multiple therapies and nurse visits. Morgan was almost one year old when she had heart surgery to repair the holes in her heart and she did quite well. Morgan came home three days after open heart surgery. Then she began having home based therapies which included speech with sign language.
Afterwards she had occupational, physical therapy and much more. Morgan had such low muscle tone and was so little, nothing came easy for her. She progressed at her own pace and God blessed the family in so many ways. Morgan had airway issues causing her to have her tonsils and adenoids removed to improve her breathing. Morgan would not be where she is today without her big brother Mack; she always tried to keep up with him. Morgan started Pre-K in Sandoval and always stole people’s hearts with love and grace.
Morgan then continued her speech therapy at school. This is where programs and services got tougher to obtain. It became evident that there was a shortage of caregivers providing therapy.
Morgan still has speech therapy to this day. This is the main reason her supporters are starting a charity to assist in providing scholarships and resources to schools and families that are affected by these challenges.
Morgan has a love for fire trucks. Her favorite show is Chicago Fire. Her family even purchased a fire truck for the kids to take rides on occasion. Morgan asked if the family could help others like they helped her, so the family decided to start the Downs, Daughters & Dads Foundation.
The D.D.D. Foundation’s primary goals are to award scholarships and to start a firefighting museum. The scholarships are for students that plan to enter the field of teaching and performing therapies for special needs children. The firefighting museum will house fire trucks to be used for parades, fundraising, and allowing special needs kids to enjoy a ride and try on fire gear, etc.
The D.D.D. Foundation will be hosting their first fundraiser on Saturday, May 20 at the Colonial Golf Course in Sandoval, starting at 10 a.m. This will be a family friendly event. There will be raffles and food for purchase, as well as a silent auction plus hole-in-one package prizes and $10,000 cash on hole #18, with other hole-in-one prizes for par 3s.
It will be a great day to fellowship and meet some of Morgan’s friends and the families of the Down syndrome community. If anyone would like to help in any way or donate, please feel free to contact them at 618-292-7504.
Pictured above is Morgan Weiss
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