Support Organization for Trisomy 18, 13, and Related Disorders

Riley, daughter of Amanda and Jeff Gillmore, passed away peacefully Monday, August 31st. For those of you that don't know, Riley was born with a condition called Trisomy 13, meaning she had an extra chromosome associated with medical abnormalities and an unfortunate assumption that she would be incompatible with life. Rather than choose a mindset of fear and devastation, Amanda and her husband Jeff chose hope. And they embarked on an incredible journey as parents to sweet, amazing Riley, who proved to be absolutely compatible with life and compatible with love.

In honor of Riley, we are raising money to support SOFT (Support Organization for Trisomy) which helped Amanda, Jeff, and Riley through their Trisomy journey.


SOFT is a network of families and professionals dedicated to providing support and understanding to families involved in the issues and decisions surrounding the diagnosis and care in Trisomy 18, 13, and other related chromosomal disorders. Support can be provided during parental diagnosis, the child's life, and after the child's passing. SOFT is committed to respecting a family's personal decision and to the notion of parent-professional relationships. Learn more at trisomy.org.

Send well wishes and learn more about Amanda, Jeff, and Riley's journey on their CaringBridge page.

Let me start off by introducing Elise Josephine McElroy. Elise is my gorgeous niece. Elise was born on Saturday, April 19th 2014.....a day I’ll never forget. After a very restless night waiting for news, we all received the news we’d been praying for, Elise was here and she was breathing. You see, Elise wasn’t your average baby in utero, at 20 weeks my sister in law and brother in law received the news that Elise had Trisomy 18 and likely wouldn’t survive the full pregnancy, let alone be born breathing.  We had the great honor and privilege of meeting and holding our beautiful niece on that day. She was so perfect and it was hard to believe that there was anything wrong. I really believed she was going to make it and she was going to be one of the babies that beat the odds. Heck, she had beat so many already, why not more. As we returned to Indianapolis we were full of hope that our gorgeous niece was fighting hard and beating the odds. But Elise’s battle was lost 4 short days later when we received the unbearable news that Elise had gone to be with the Lord. Our hearts were broken.  I was 6 months pregnant with Caleb when Elise passed away-she taught me so much about being a mummy and for that, I’ll be forever grateful. 

So, what does all of this mean?! Elise taught us all that ANYTHING can be achieved....so, in honor of her memory, I’m throwing on some running shoes and doing a half marathon! I will be running the Indy Mini on Saturday May 4th! Now I am no runner...8 weeks ago I couldn’t even run for one minute without stopping, yet here I am, signed up and in full blown training mode. Am I going to set an Olympic record?? Probably not! Am I going to finish? With Elise watching over me, how can I not. 

There were many organizations that supported Jessie and Matt during their pregnancy and after Elise’s death. But the one that means the most to Jessie is SOFT. I will be raising money for this amazing cause so please dig deep in honor of our beautiful niece. 

More information about Support Organization for Trisomy 18/13 - S O F T Inc: Support organization for Trisomy 18/13 https://trisomy.org