OUR GOAL

Dear family and friends - please join us in celebrating our son Jensen’s life. Although he is gone, his memory and legacy lives on.

We invite you to join us in celebrating Jensen’s 5th birthday by making a donation to a worthy local non-profit that we volunteer with: MiWork Matters! Their mission is to create meaningful employment opportunities for people with developmental disabilities across Michigan. By donating, you will be helping a non-profit sustain, grow, and expand its employment programs. Anastasia and Katie's Coffee Shop is just one example of the work they are doing where people with and without disabilities can work in an inclusive and supportive environment. (more info in our story below)

We appreciate everyone’s love and support over the years. It really lifts us up and means a lot that others continue to remember him with us.

Love,

Kara, Andrew & Madeline

OUR STORY

First, how has it been five years? Thursday, August 5th will be the five-year anniversary of our son Jensen’s birth. It seems like just yesterday he was here. He lived for 43 hours and died the following day, on August 6th. Although he is gone, he lives in our hearts every day and we try to honor his life by doing good in the world.

Most of you know the story, but some of you may not. When I was pregnant with Jensen, we found out very early on that he had Down syndrome. At the time, our lives felt turned upside down with this news.

After connecting with others with children with Ds, we quickly came to accept that yes, while we were having a child with Down syndrome, that didn’t mean we would love him any less and we loved him no matter what. That’s the thing about life… we are not fully in control. We think we are, but really, we have no idea if we are going to live another day or in this case, decide who our child was going to be. Who are we to decide any part of the child we were gifted? He was going to be perfect exactly as he was. More importantly, he was OUR child, and we didn’t look back after that.

We felt very protective of him and started getting connected to resources and support within the Ds community. (the Ds community is strong!) In our connections with others, we were beginning to fully come to terms with a harsh truth - - that people with disabilities were often not given the same opportunity as others or were flat out discriminated against. We wanted to make sure we were educated to be able advocate for him to ensure he had every opportunity throughout his development, education, and eventually employment. It is a fundamental human right to have equal access and opportunity. But we also had hope – the support and pathway for inclusion was much stronger today than it was just 30 years ago.

Unfortunately, Jensen had severe medical issues - - four heart defects and hydrops. We were fortunate that the doctors were committed to doing everything they could to keep him alive before and after he was born. For that, we are grateful. We know that Jensen got the best care he could have received. Sometimes there are medical conditions that just cannot be overcome.

Each year around the days leading up to Jensen’s birthday, the remembrance of his life renews that sense of purpose we felt in advocating for him during his short life. This sense of advocacy has not diminished. We reflect on how his life opened our eyes to so much - how much work still needs to be done for people with disabilities - as well as just living a life of purpose and spreading kindness.

So, for his fifth birthday, we will be donating to a local non-profit group called MiWorkMatters whose mission is to create meaningful employment opportunities for people with developmental disabilities across Michigan. I (Kara) was recently appointed on the Board of Directors and believe 100% in the mission. This non-profit group also owns a local café and coffee shop called Anastasia and Katie’s Coffee Shop, which was started to create a place where people with and without disabilities can work in an inclusive and supportive environment. Employees receive training, onsite support and a paycheck, while giving back to the community.

Check out their page at: https://www.anastasiaandkatiescoffee.com/

An article from ClickonDetroit is available here: https://www.clickondetroit.com/features/2020/12/10/this-shop-aims-to-spark-change-for-people-with-disabilities-and-strike-up-a-conversation-for-businesses-everywhere/

We invite you to join us in celebrating Jensen’s 5th birthday by making a donation to @MiWork Matters! By donating, you will be helping a worthy non-profit that has also been hit hard by COVID pandemic. You will also help us keep Jensen’s memory alive.

Thank you for your support!