Trisomy 18 or Edwards Syndrome - What is it? - Who Does It Effect

OAKWOOD -- An Oakwood toddler with serious birth defects has been chosen as the recipient of this year's Trees of Life-Pat Buckley Moss Society fund-raiser.

Taylor Tumblin was born June 2, 2005, with Trisomy 18, a chromosome disorder. She was not expected to live more than 30 days, but the daughter of Roger and Kelly Tumblin of Oakwood has turned out to be a strong little girl who keeps fighting for her life.

She has been through reconstructive heart surgery, is on oxygen and uses an Ng tube for feeding and medication. Surgery for scoliosis of the spine is planned to relieve the pressure of her spine on her lungs.

Eliot was born with an undeveloped lung, a heart with a hole in it and DNA that placed faulty information into each and every cell of his body. However, that could not stop the living God from proclaiming Himself through this boy who never uttered a word.

Trisomy 18 or Edwards Syndrome (named after John H. Edwards, who first described the syndrome in 1960) is a genetic disorder. It is the most common autosomal trisomy after Down Syndrome that carries to term.

It is caused by the presence of three — instead of two — copies of chromosome 18 in a fetus or infant's cells.

The additional chromosome usually occurs before conception. A healthy egg or sperm cell contains individual chromosomes - one to contribute to each of the 23 pairs of chromosomes needed to form a normal cell with 46 chromosomes. Numerical errors arise at either of the two meiotic divisions and cause the failure of segregation of a chromosome into the daughter cells (non-disjunction). This results in an extra chromosome making the haploid number 24 rather than 23. Fertilization of these eggs or sperm that contain an extra chromosome results in trisomy, or three copies of a chromosome rather than two.

The first Mother's Day after a drunk driver killed Debra Bonde's 19-year-old daughter was particularly difficult, for obvious reasons. Worse, the holiday fell that year on Anna Bonde's birthday — the first one she didn't get to celebrate.

Since then, Bonde has found solace — and distraction — in the work she does running a nonprofit organization helping other children.

She lost her own baby, Eli, 30 minutes after he was born with a chromosomal disorder called trisomy 18. He died of a heart defect related to that condition.

Mother of three and Minneapolis-based photographer Jessica Person directs her gift-giving to other mothers (and fathers) who are going through what she experienced: the death of a newborn.

Part of a national nonprofit organization based in Little-ton, Colo., called Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, she offers free photography services to any mothers or families in the Minneapolis area whose babies died in utero or will not live long after they are born.

She lost her own baby, Eli, 30 minutes after he was born with a chromosomal disorder called trisomy 18. He died of a heart defect related to that condition.