{"id":273683,"date":"2022-08-08T16:39:55","date_gmt":"2022-08-08T21:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=273683"},"modified":"2022-08-08T17:54:18","modified_gmt":"2022-08-08T22:54:18","slug":"woman-heart-down-syndrome-daughter-pregnant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-heart-down-syndrome-daughter-pregnant\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman has heart-to-heart with daughter with Down syndrome about what she ‘wished’ while pregnant"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A touching exchange between a mother and her daughter with Down syndrome was shared by disability advocate Maria Shriver, and has since racked up hundreds of thousands of views. The simple conversation is touching countless hearts, with its frank and honest discussion of fears before pregnancy, and the reality after.<\/p>\n

“What did you wish for me when I was pregnant?” Shriver wrote in the caption. “What a profound question that this mother answers so beautifully, so honestly, so profoundly. … It made me tear up. I wish I\u2019d asked my mother this question. She would have loved this conversation. She would have been so thrilled that this conversation could take place, and that people could witness this love.”<\/p>\n

Maria Shriver’s mother was Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who founded the Special Olympics after spending much of her life advocating for those with intellectual disabilities. Kennedy Shriver’s sister, Rosemary, was believed to have an intellectual disability, and was lobotomized in secret by Shriver’s grandfather, Joe Kennedy. Rosemary was never the same after, and lived in an assisted living facility for people with disabilities for the rest of her life; her condition was likewise kept secret from her siblings. They had been told she was merely reclusive, and had no idea where she actually was. It wasn’t until after Joe Kennedy had a stroke that left him unable to speak or walk that they were told the truth, and her siblings then visited her regularly. Kennedy Shriver in particular was close to Rosemary, and she was also ardently pro-life, regularly campaigning against abortion.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Because of Beckett: A world made better by one little boy with Down syndrome<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the video, the young girl with Down syndrome asked her mother, “What did you wish for me when I was pregnant? And how is it different now?”<\/p>\n