{"id":177791,"date":"2024-02-14T14:52:51","date_gmt":"2024-02-14T19:52:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/?p=177791"},"modified":"2024-05-23T09:32:51","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T13:32:51","slug":"a-parents-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/family-support\/a-parents-story\/","title":{"rendered":"A Parent\u2019s Story"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\">[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]\n<h1><span style=\"color: #5a3f98;\">A Parent\u2019s Story<\/span><\/h1>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=&#8221;<strong>Michelle Aventajado<\/strong>&#8221; font_container=&#8221;tag:h4|font_size:20px|text_align:left|line_height:22px&#8221; use_theme_fonts=&#8221;yes&#8221;][vc_custom_heading text=&#8221;Best Buddies Staff Member&#8221; font_container=&#8221;tag:h4|font_size:20px|text_align:left|line_height:22px&#8221; use_theme_fonts=&#8221;yes&#8221; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1708619101082{margin-top: -10px !important;}&#8221;][vc_separator color=&#8221;custom&#8221; align=&#8221;align_left&#8221; border_width=&#8221;8&#8243; accent_color=&#8221;#59cbe8&#8243;][vc_column_text]<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"featured-profile alignleft wp-image-177883\" src=../../../../_https_/www.bestbuddies.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/A-Parents-Story-Michelle-Aventajado-Featured-Image.webp/_ alt=\"The tender embrace of a mother envelops her daughter, her smile radiating warmth and love, creating a melody of maternal affection.\" width=\"300\" height=\"432\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/A-Parents-Story-Michelle-Aventajado-Featured-Image.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/A-Parents-Story-Michelle-Aventajado-Featured-Image-710x1024.webp 710w, https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/A-Parents-Story-Michelle-Aventajado-Featured-Image-104x150.webp 104w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><strong>No one wants to feel alone.<\/strong> Even if I understood what Down Syndrome was because I was a teacher and taught in inclusive classrooms, when the neonatologist gave me a birth diagnosis of Trisomy 21, I felt the full gamut of emotions that comes along with the understanding that my parenthood journey was forever going to be different. My husband Nino and I looked to each other for comfort, but we also knew we had no idea how to move forward except through our faith. We prayed for Evangelina\u2019s (Gelli) successful surgery that she would have to undergo within hours of her birth, for strength, and for a community that would welcome us and guide us on this new path.<\/p>\n<p>Finding other parents of kids who had Down syndrome suddenly put things into perspective for us.<br \/>\nWe looked to parents with older kids to see how their kids were growing, what we could expect as new parents ourselves, and, most of all, for encouragement.<\/p>\n<p>We wanted the reassurance of someone who had \u2018been there, done that,\u2019 even if our experiences weren\u2019t exactly the same, and we wanted to relate to other parents who understood where we were, without much explanation or need for words.<\/p>\n<p>Gelli gave us membership to a special kind of club. She opened up our world to people whom we never would have met, and because of her, we found parents of kids just like her, which was comforting, reassuring, and safe.<\/p>\n<p>Gelli\u2019s arrival has brought many positive adventures into our lives. I now lead <a href=../../../../_https_/www.bestbuddies.org/philippines/_ target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Best Buddies Philippines<\/a> and am happy to be part of an organization that continues to support and empower the IDD community throughout different life stages.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] A Parent\u2019s Story [\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=&#8221;Michelle Aventajado&#8221; font_container=&#8221;tag:h4|font_size:20px|text_align:left|line_height:22px&#8221; use_theme_fonts=&#8221;yes&#8221;][vc_custom_heading text=&#8221;Best Buddies Staff Member&#8221; font_container=&#8221;tag:h4|font_size:20px|text_align:left|line_height:22px&#8221; use_theme_fonts=&#8221;yes&#8221; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1708619101082{margin-top: -10px !important;}&#8221;][vc_separator color=&#8221;custom&#8221; align=&#8221;align_left&#8221; border_width=&#8221;8&#8243; accent_color=&#8221;#59cbe8&#8243;][vc_column_text]No one wants to feel alone. Even if I understood what Down Syndrome was because I was a teacher and taught in inclusive classrooms, when the neonatologist gave me [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Parent\u2019s Story - Best Buddies International<\/title>\n
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Even if I understood what Down Syndrome was because I was a teacher and taught in inclusive classrooms, when the neonatologist gave me [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/family-support\/a-parents-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Best Buddies International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-14T19:52:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-23T13:32:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/A-Parents-Story-Michelle-Aventajado-Featured-Image.webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Drew Heinrich\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Drew Heinrich\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/family-support\/a-parents-story\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/family-support\/a-parents-story\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Drew Heinrich\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#\/schema\/person\/3cb3d7a84f2328dfc0c55e6e89f4e7e6\"},\"headline\":\"A Parent\u2019s Story\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-14T19:52:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-23T13:32:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/family-support\/a-parents-story\/\"},\"wordCount\":380,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/family-support\/a-parents-story\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/A-Parents-Story-Michelle-Aventajado-Featured-Image.webp\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/family-support\/a-parents-story\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/family-support\/a-parents-story\/\",\"name\":\"A Parent\u2019s Story - 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