Team Joey!

by Kay Drwal

We live in a world where we are told that we can accomplish anything if we work hard enough at it. We plan, we monitor, we control and we dream. But sometimes we get hit with something that changes our total perception of how the world works. It makes us question the preconceived ideas that guided us to where we are today. And it is through this metamorphosis that we can redirect our path and move closer to living a more meaningful life. My life opened when my tiny newborn was handed to me and the Doctor told us Joseph was born with Down syndrome.

I knew his birth changed my life and even my friends and family's lives to an extent, but I didn't realize how many other lives Joey affected until this fall as he approaches his fifth birthday.

We have four boys in our family, so as you can imagine, we are busy with activities of many sorts at our house. My oldest son Jake, who is a high school junior, has had a great year playing receiver for the varsity football team this year. As my family was preparing for the annual Buddy Walk (the Walk is a fund raiser to promote awareness and inclusion for people with Down syndrome) my mom came up with a great idea. She suggested we invite the football team to participate in the Buddy Walk and she and my father would pay the registration fee that goes to the Down Syndrome Foundation for any player who walked.

I talked to the coach about the idea and he was enthusiastic. The coach asked my son Jake to talk to the team about the Buddy Walk, what Down syndrome is and what the money people contribute to the Buddy Walk is used for. We then sent an email to all the players on the varsity team hoping for a handful of responses. What we received was truly overwhelming.

Not only did each and every football player and some parents come to the Buddy Walk, many players along with their parents donated money to the Down syndrome foundation in honor of Joey. I also received many phone calls and letters of support. The football coach said he would like to involve his players every year. Other teachers have asked how they can get their students involved in the Walk next year. Team Joey was even mentioned in a column in our newspaper.

So, our goal of promoting acceptance of people with Down syndrome and opening the hearts of a few high school kids by having them participate in the Buddy Walk continues to grow within our community and has created a new awareness in us too. Now we know many people in our community are behind Joey who will help him succeed throughout his life. What an inspiration! With our family and the community behind us and with Joey's bright determination, there's no end to the possibilities.

Biography First and foremost I am a stay at home Mom and wife with four boys ranging in age from seventeen to five. My youngest son Joey was born with an extra chromosome. Shortly after Joey was born, my then-six-year-old son Ross burst in, upset that one of the neighborhood boys had told him he’d never play with Joey “because Joey’s retarded.” I told my crying son that everyone has differences, and that those differences have nothing to do with making any person better or worse than another. I said that Joey’s differences just are a little more visible than most. Because of that visibility our lives have been enriched a thousand-fold, and our family has become stronger because of it. Countless people have remarked on how kind and thoughtful my other boys are with Joey, and with others as well. Many lives have been touched by knowing Joey. For example, the football coach was so enthusiastic about the team being involved in the Buddy Walk again this year he approached us about it! Joey started kindergarten this year and is happy and thriving in a progressive inclusionary-model general curriculum class. Simply put, this means his class is team-taught by a general ed teacher and a special ed teacher. In my spare time—in between taxi-driving, cooking, cleaning, refereeing the boys and doing laundry that only another mother with four boys can imagine—I am a free lance writer.