A mom of a child with Down syndrome has founded Jack's Basket, a nonprofit basket full of baby gifts to help new moms and dads celebrate their kids who have the same condition as her child. Through this basket, Carissa Carroll wishes to encourage new parents to accept and love their babies with the condition just the way they were created. Now, the Carrolls are celebrating babies who have Down syndrome.
In 2013, Carissa Carroll delivered her second child with husband, Chris Carroll. However, both parents did not expect the news they received about their child: the baby has Down syndrome, a disorder in which a baby is conceived with more than the usual number of chromosomes. When they heard the news, both were shocked. "It's shocking, but this is your child," Carissa said according to Shoreview Press. Aside from that, the two were also confused as they were not given information about Down syndrome.
After several months, Carissa started her mission to help new parents who have babies with Down syndrome. That is when she began to give basket she called Jack's Basket, named after her child who has a Down syndrome. She had the idea during Jack's first birthday.
"I thought, 'Let's celebrate his birthday by going back to the hospital and delivering baskets to other families like ours,'" Twin Cities Pioneer Press quoted Carissa as saying. "Baskets with some gifts and a letter, saying what our son means to us" she added.
In the letter, Carissa congratulated the parents who gave birth to children with Down syndrome. She also shared her experience for the parents to relate and never felt alone in their feelings. Most importantly, the letter described how Jack lightened and brightened their lives.
Today, the Carrolls are widely spreading their story to other parents. Carissa said they had celebrated more than 250 babies in a span of two years, celebrating babies born at the Twin Cities and all over the world. Jack's Baskets are delivered all over the country and the whole world.
Down syndrome is still the most common chromosomal disorder diagnosed in America, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, affecting around 6,000 babies in the United States every year. This means the condition transpires in around 1 in each 700 babies.
