Trisomy Awareness Month

March 19, 2022

Did you know? March is Trisomy Awareness Month! Many families in our support network have learned their babies have a trisomy condition. This means their cells have an extra copy of one (or even more than one) chromosome. While any chromosome can be affected, the most common of these conditions are:

• Trisomy 21, Down syndrome
• Trisomy 18, Edwards syndrome
• Trisomy 13, Patau syndrome

In the Verity’s Village prenatal support group, we have celebrated the lives of little ones with each of the above conditions. We have also seen Trisomy 22, Trisomy 1, and some unique combinations, such as partial T18 and monosomy 21 presenting together. Trisomies can be full, meaning every cell has the extra chromosome. Or they can be mosaic, where only a certain percentage of cells has the extra chromosome. There can even be a partial trisomy. This means only an extra part of the chromosome is present along with the usual pair. You can read about one of our families with an extremely rare trisomy condition here.

Trisomy Awareness Month gives us the opportunity to share more information and resources. For those with rare trisomy conditions, please visit Support Organization for Trisomy, our preferred source of up-to-date information about the rare trisomies. If you’d like more information about Down syndrome (Trisomy 21), the most common trisomy, visit the National Down Syndrome Society.

Supporting Families

Perhaps you know someone with one of these conditions. If you’d like to make a donation to Verity’s Village in honor of someone with a trisomy, we invite you to give online. Or maybe you’d like to participate in our upcoming Run for the Rare. Your financial gifts help us support families who receive a life-limiting diagnosis for their babies, regardless of whether the diagnosis is a trisomy or something else. Thank you for helping us change the narrative surrounding these and other genetic anomalies!