Sean’s Perspective

Hello, I am Colm’s older brother. At first when I heard we were having a baby in our family, I was very excited about it. But when my mom had to have an amnio, we had some good news and some bad news. The good news was that I was going to have a brother, but the bad news was that he was going to have some heart defects. I felt good that I would have a baby brother, but sad that he would have heart defects. The one day at dinner my mom and dad called me to the table and told me that my brother probably wouldn’t live long because he had Trisomy 18. I was very sad that he wasn’t going to live long, but happy that he was going to see our grandma in Heaven. When Colm was born, he looked a little odd. I told my mom his head looked like a potato. But his feet and his hands were perfect– tiny, but perfect. My mom and dad say Colm’s hands look just like mine when I was born. I love Colm, and I just wanted to let you know how I felt about it all. Excerpt from the eulogy given at Colm’s funeral by his 9 year old brother in 2004.