October 25, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – A touching video showing the joy of raising a child with Down Syndrome has reached millions of people during Down Syndrome Awareness Month.
In the video, Oakley Peterson explains that she and her husband learned their son, Welles, has Down Syndrome shortly after he was born. At first, they were worried, but since then, Peterson says, their lives have greatly improved because of Welles.
“We had some friends come talk to us up at the hospital and they have a daughter who has Down Syndrome,” said Peterson. “And they just looked at us and said, ‘you just hit the jackpot.’ Your family is gonna function like a normal family. Your family is gonna do wonderful fun things, and it’s actually probably gonna be more fun because of Welles.”
“I don’t want people to feel bad for him. People don’t understand–just like I didn’t,” said Peterson. “They see the things that are hard, but what they don’t see is that Welles gives me more hugs and kisses than anybody. Welles picks up on people’s moods and loves with a capacity that I don’t think we’re even capable of understanding…if you spend more than two minutes with Welles, you can tell his quality of life is better than maybe all of ours.”
Peterson started a blog called Nothing Down About It to show the world how great having a child with Down Syndrome is and “let them know that the quality of life is wonderful and beautiful.”
“He’s changed our lives to make it so the focus of every day is just joy and happiness and to bless other people,” she said. “I don’t even wanna imagine a world without more Welles. I think we need more Welles in our lives.”