Friday, March 30, 2012

John Marrs - An Inspiring Young Man With Down Syndrome

Over 4.5 years ago, after we received K's diagnosis of Down syndrome, I went on a long research binge.  Most of what I read was " They will reach their milestones in their own time."  I just could not be content with that, & thought there had to be something more.  I searched what seemed to be the furthest darkest corners of the internet scrounging up any piece of information I could find before I found a few kids with Down syndrome that I would consider to be truly inspirational.  Perhaps the stories were there, but I just found it difficult to find them.  At first the few stories I found seemed to good to be true, but they got me researching more & believing that perhaps there was more that I could do than to just wait for my daughter to do things " in her own time."

One of the first truly inspiring kids I learned about is John Marrs.  Although I have never met this family, I will always be grateful for that first glimpse of hope that I got when reading their website.

Here is a link: John Marr`s page Make sure you check out the whole site. It's full  of information & John's poem is wonderful! TNI & a neurodevelopmental program as well as a loving family with high expectations have contributed to John's development.

The reason that I thought to post this is that John's name has come up recently on the internet because he is being inducted into the National Honor Society. Check out Got Down syndrome`s blog for the story.

10 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for sharing such an encouraging story. His poem is wonderful!!

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  2. What a wonderful website ! Truly inspirational, thanks so much for sharing! Do you know if there is any new site of his as this one seem to go until 07 only

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  5. Devastated that the John Marrs website it not there. I read and re read bits from this page after bringing my daughter home and this is where I found my strength. Now it has gone!Has it moved or vanished. I know John has now graduated but was nice to read over his journey form past years:)

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  6. Me too.. What happened to Johns page?..:((

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  7. I am John's mom. John is a senior this year. His page address changed to http://myplace.frontier.com/~ezlopin/johnmarrs/index.html
    It's so wonderful to read that John has been helpful to others. Our email address is ezlopin@gmail.com We love to hear from others.

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  8. Thanks for the updated link Jenny. I'll update the post & bump this post shortly as I'm sure others would like the updated link. If you ever have a chance to update his page that would be wonderful. I'm sure he has accomplished lots of interesting things since then!

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  9. I go to school with John. And he is such a wonderful young man. He puts a smile on my face everytime i see him in the halls and when we talk. The converstation can be short but he has me smiling the whole time and laughing. I had P.E. and he was in there doing the lunch count and i would help him and it was a blast, having him there made my day! I love his laugh!

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  10. Thanks for your comment Brittany - it's great to hear from one of John's friends!

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