Ryan was 3 years, 5 months when he was diagnosed with MDS.

Meet Ryan

Ryan was 3 years, 5 months when he was diagnosed with MDS.  He had a very typical infancy and toddler years.  He was slow to walk at 18 months but nothing indicated that he was not within the later typical spectrum.

After he began to walk we noticed he was not very sure footed and seemed clumsy.  At the same time we noticed he needed to hold books close to his face to see the pictures.  After a visit to the ophthalmologist he was diagnosed with significant hyperopia and bilateral astigmatism he began wearing glasses at 2 years, 5 months.  At this time we thought his vision had been a factor in his ability to walk and possible the reason for his lack of confidence walking on different surfaces or down steps, things like that. 

When Ryan began to run in the backyard it was evident something was not right.  He was not able to make it across the yard without tiring. His body was not moving as it should to run.  His hips would rotate in a circular motion and he would hold one arm up for balance.  It was very cumbersome for him to try and run.  It was not until we had him trying to run down the sidewalk a short distance that he was increasingly unable to move, stumbling over his feet and falling.  This seemed to get worse and at that time we were referred to a neurologist.

At that visit along with our description of Ryan’s inability to run and low muscle tone, the doctor felt that Ryan did have wide set eyes, characteristic of Down syndrome.  As parents, when we looked at Ryan we were oblivious to this feature and Down syndrome was not one of the possible diagnosis that we feared.  A blood test was completed and Ryan was diagnosed with MDS. 

Ryan is now 5 years old finishing up preschool and ready for kindergarten.  He is now able run across the yard.  He runs with caution but is able to enjoy a good chase in the grass.  He is within the typical development stages of his age group.  He knows his ABC, is leaning letter sounds, can recognize numbers to 20.  He has great fine motor skills and can write words.  He is working on his auditory processing time but the teachers feel he will do fine in a typical kindergarten class.

We love Ryan so much and we can not imagine our lives without him!

Rob and Stefanie Estes