Vera is 5

Dear family, friends and teachers,

Thank you for being here tonight to celebrate Vera’s 5^th birthday with us.

I’d just like to say a few words before we sing the birthday song.

5 years ago, Vera’s arrival threw us into the special needs world.

Family members and friends were there for us.

While it was a world full of machines, medicines and mayhem, it was also a world filled with kindness.

Mothers pumped and offered Vera their breastmilk. Others helped us buy medical supplies.

At our lowest moments, mothers with Trisomy 18 children miles away in the US, became our pillars of support.

Yet more kindness came our way when Vera started school at Yishun Park Rainbow Centre.

Teachers and therapists engulfed children like Vera in a sea of love. Accepting their every flaw, celebrating their every step.

During frequent hospital stays, we became closely in touch with people who help people – surgeons, doctors and nurses – and saw the good work they do each day.

So on behalf of Vera, thank you all, for touching our lives in your own special way.