Trisomy 18 is not a deadly form of Down's Syndrome

I have posted about my mother before, about how critical she is and how she plays favorites. But, she has really come through for me during this time. Honestly, she's been wonderful. However, there is one little thing she does that bugs me.

She is telling everyone that Trisomy 18 is a deadly form of Down's Syndrome. No, it's not. Not many people around here have heard of Trisomy 18, so I feel like she's spreading misinformation.

Trisomy 18 is where a baby has three sets of chromosome 18. Down Syndrome is actually Trisomy 21, where the baby has three sets of chromosome 21. Down's is compatible with life, while Trisomy 18 is not. They are related as they are both trisomies, but saying Trisomy 18 is a deadly form of Down's is like saying pancreatic cancer is a deadly form of skin cancer. Just like Down's and Trisomy 18 are both trisomies, pancreatic cancer and skin cancer are both cancers, but they are completely different.

I wish I had a way of educating people about Trisomy 18. A Web site does exist to support those who are going through this. It's www.trisomy18support.org. They allow parents to do legacy pages for their children, and I'm going to create Jenna a page there. I'm going to post about it on all my boards, so maybe people will know.