{"id":225947,"date":"2020-06-23T10:40:56","date_gmt":"2020-06-23T15:40:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=225947"},"modified":"2020-06-24T23:47:46","modified_gmt":"2020-06-25T04:47:46","slug":"husband-left-down-syndrome-diagnosis-chose-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/husband-left-down-syndrome-diagnosis-chose-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Her husband left after a Down syndrome diagnosis, but she chose life anyway"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Corina Gander already had four daughters, ranging from 16 to 4, when she and her husband found out they were expecting their fifth baby. Initially, it was a “happy surprise” for the couple, but when they learned daughter had Down syndrome, Gander faced an uphill battle with very little support — but chose life anyway.<\/p>\n

At her 12-week ultrasound, Gander told the Daily Mail<\/a> she was full of excitement. Then, a nurse called her to say her baby had a one in five chance of having Down syndrome. “I\u2019m not sure how she thought I\u2019d react,” Gander said, explaining that the nurse asked her what she wanted to do. “I knew what she meant. Did I want to abort? My mind fast-forwarded to when I was old and unable to care for a child with a disability.”<\/p>\n

Gander chose to have diagnostic testing done, and went for the test by herself. As she saw her daughter on the ultrasound, her doubts began to ease. “As I looked at the grainy image on the screen, emotion swept over me. There was my baby doing somersaults in my belly,” she said. “In that moment I knew the result would be irrelevant.”<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Mom pressured to stop treating son with Down syndrome: \u2018Make arrangements for his death\u2019<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Resolved to keep her daughter no matter what, Gander received a call a few days later confirming the Down syndrome diagnosis. The nurse who notified her told Gander she was “so sorry.” Gander, however, said she was fine. She began letting people know — her husband, her family, and her friends — that her new baby would come with an extra chromosome. And her support quickly crumbled around her.<\/p>\n

Not only did Gander’s husband leave her, but her friends and family also pushed her to have an abortion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“‘You have four normal children, why have this one?’ and \u2018I seriously doubt your ability to cope with a disabled child,'” she recalled people saying. But she refused to let it phase her. “The love I had for the little girl I was yet to meet was so strong. They made me want to have her more and prove to the world she deserved her place as much as anyone.”<\/p>\n