This week from October 23rd to 29th marks Canadian Down Syndrome Week.
It is a national week celebrating and showcasing the abilities of people with Down syndrome.
Down syndrome is a naturally occurring chromosomal arrangement that has always existed and is universal across racial, gender and socio-economic lines.
One in every 781 babies born in Canada has Down syndrome.
There are three types of down syndrome;
- Trisomy 21 which is the most common type at 95%
- translocation which represents only 2-3% of those born with it and means an extra part of whole extra copy of chromosome 21 is attached to a different chromosome
- mosaicism which results in an extra whole chromosome 21 in only a percentage of their body cells, with the rest not having the extra chromosome.
