"When I was around five-years-old my family decided to travel to New York for a small vacation. I remember a couple days before we left, my parents took my brother and I to visit Time Square and I just remember it being really crowded but there was an especially large crowd waiting in front of a jumbo screen and we joined them. I had no clue what we were doing but we waited for what seemed like a really long time. Eventually, pictures started showing up on this big screen. A couple minutes after these pictures started showing up, I realized they were pictures of individuals with Down syndrome. I saw kids, young adults, and towards the end, I saw my own brother.

“The church service came to an end and I made my way through the crowd of fellow church goers towards my son’s Sunday school class. I walked over and Nathan came running to me. As I bent down to give him a hug I looked up at the teacher, who was new to his class, and casually asked, “how was Nathan’s day?” She looked at me and thought for what seemed a long time and then said with a tone of doubt, “I think he’s teachable.” I was in shock.

"My wife was four months pregnant and I had just been laid off from my job when we received the prenatal diagnosis that our son would have Down syndrome. I was shocked, confused, and scared. I didn’t take it easily. I was worried about what the future would look like. Without a job I feared about how I would be able to properly provide for this child, especially for medical related issues. I felt overwhelmed, but the biggest question I had was, “What is Down syndrome?”

I like playing Roblox, going to the beach, and swimming at the Rose Bowl Aquatics. I love all animals especially dogs. I love big dogs, small dogs, and all type of dogs. I like everything related to Halloween, spooky songs, shopping at Party City for costumes, and the Addams Family.