Eliot's story

Until yesterday at church, I had never heard the story of Eliot Mooney.

Words can’t begin to describe the awe inspiring faith and courage displayed by Matt & Ginny Mooney, Eliot’s parents, in the face of Eliot’s seemingly fatal illness. Eliot had had been diagnosed with Trisomy 18 while still in the womb.

Back in June 2006, a month before Eliot was born, Matt & Ginny described the nature of the disease.

Trisomy 18 is also called Edwards syndrome (or Edward's syndrome), and is the second most common trisomy, after Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome). It occurs in about 1:5000 to 1:8000 births.

Trisomy 18 syndrome is due to the presence of an extra #18 chromosome, meaning that BABY MOONEY has three chromosomes in the eighteenth position instead of the normal two.

Unlike Down syndrome, Edwards Syndrome is usually fatal, with most of the babies dying before birth and those who do make it to birth typically living only a few days. However, a small number of babies (less than 10%) live at least one year.

I’m not ashamed to tell you that I shed a few tears while viewing the following video. This video clip, entitled 99 Balloons, is a retrospective of the life of Matt & Ginny’s precious little boy.



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