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For Friends and Family

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Do you have a friend or family member who has just received a Trisomy 18 diagnosis for her child? Has a friend just said goodbye to her child with Trisomy 18? Do you want to help but aren't sure just what to say or what to do? If so, thank you for caring so much.

There are several things you can do to support your friends. First, learn as much as you can about Trisomy 18. See What is Trisomy 18 to understand what your friend is facing. The effort you make to learn will speak volumes to your friend.

Reading stories and seeing pictures of other families in their Legacy Pages, as well as in our Family Profiles section may help you understand better what your friends may be dealing with, and may give you good ideas of how to help your friends.

Another thing you can do is learn more about grief. A good way to do this is to read some of the information in the Remembering a Child section of this site. Read The Journey, which describes what grief is like. Another good resource is How to Help a Friend Who is Grieving, written by a mom who lost her daughter to Trisomy 18.

We also have an online community where you can interact with other families and ask them questions directly about their experiences. There is also a section especially for family and friends. See the Online Support Community home page for more information about this community and how you can join it. Of particular interest will be the Friends and Family board.

Additional Reading:

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