{"id":13507,"date":"2018-07-20T19:52:56","date_gmt":"2018-07-20T23:52:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/?p=13507"},"modified":"2018-07-23T22:21:46","modified_gmt":"2018-07-24T02:21:46","slug":"from-down-syndrome-to-up-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/from-down-syndrome-to-up-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"From Down syndrome to Up Syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Kristie Sammons, Site Coordinator<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Megan O’Halloran is an amazing young woman who has proven that Down syndrome doesn’t have to live up to its name. Megan shares her story about having Trisomy 21 with us in her book titled Up Syndrome: It’s all about the attitude (Redefining Down Syndrome)<\/em>.\u00a0 We are delighted to host her for a talk and book signing as part of our First Anniversary Celebration on July 28, 2018 from 3-5pm.<\/p>\n

I recently spoke with her mother, Michelle Abner, to see what inspired Megan to write the book and where her love of writing began.<\/p>\n

Like so many success stories that we hear, Megan’s all began with a teacher. Megan began journaling when she was just 13 years old.\u00a0 One of her home school teachers required her to write something every day.\u00a0 Megan’s teacher did not focus on spelling or grammar, instead, she just wanted Megan to put her thoughts on paper.<\/p>\n

Megan’s Uncle Rick also proved to be instrumental in bringing her story to life. Once while visiting her Aunt and Uncle, Megan wrote and left behind two of her writings. Several years later, her Uncle Rick found them and was so touched by her writings that he carried them around in his briefcase for nearly 10 years. When Rick retired, he found the writings again and showed them to Megan.\u00a0 He told her that she should write a book because she could express herself so well.\u00a0 Megan didn’t want to do it.\u00a0 She hated the phrase \u201cDown Syndrome\u201d.\u00a0 Megan’s family is not sure who thought of the phrase \u201cUp Syndrome<\/em>,\u201d but as soon as they decided on this title, Megan started writing her book.<\/p>\n

It took her over four years to complete “Up Syndrome<\/em>.”\u00a0 The entire family cheered her on, and Uncle Rick even gave her $100 to finish.\u00a0 They purposefully did not edit the book except for the spelling because they wanted readers to capture Megan\u2019s inner beauty.\u00a0 Once the book was complete, Megan worked on the cover design.\u00a0 She picked the design because it had a branch and she felt she was branching out.<\/p>\n

Upon publishing “Up Syndrome<\/em>,” her family had a party to celebrate.\u00a0 About 50 family and friends came and each one got a book.\u00a0 Megan signed every copy.\u00a0 Megan\u2019s employer, Winn Dixie, also had a book signing party for her.\u00a0 Over 100 neighbors came to have Megan sign their books.\u00a0 Book sales raised over $2000, and every dollar was donated to the National Down Syndrome Association.<\/p>\n

Since the book has been published, Megan has been a guest speaker at numerous book clubs and schools.\u00a0 Once again, the family is begging Megan to write another book about her life as an adult, and her new marriage to her long-time beau, Casey O’Halloran.<\/p>\n

Please join us at GiGi’s Playhouse on July 28, 2018 from 3-5pm as we welcome Megan as our special guest at our First Anniversary Celebration. She will be speaking and doing a book signing.\u00a0 Copies of “Up Syndrome<\/em>” will be available at the Playhouse for purchase at the event.<\/p>\n

You may RSVP to the Anniversary Celebration here:\u00a0https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/event\/1st-anniversary-celebration\/<\/p>\n

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by Kristie Sammons, Site Coordinator \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":173,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/173"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13507\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}