Benji has to deal with many different things every day such as learning difficulties, developmentally delayed , a different facial appearance, and low muscle tone.

These make it hard for him to play sports, understand things, and pay attention in school.

Downsyndrome is a chromosomal condition related to chromosome 21. It is not in herrited it occurs as a random event during ealy fetal development and effects 1 in 800 to 1 in 1000 infants. It is diagnosed by having an extra chromosome.

Treatment options depend on the persons physical problems and intellectual challenges. Many babies who have downsyndrome do not have good muscle tone and have trouble crawling and rolling over.

Benji's genetic disease puts him at high risk for heart defects, hearing loss, gastroesophogle reflex, and low activity of the thyroid gland witch produces hormones. When Benji's mom and dad asked the doctor why and how this happened he responded with this.

The interferon pathway is the major signaling cascade consistently activated by trisomy 21 in human cells. Trisomy 21 activates the interferon transcriptional response in fibroblast and lymphoblastoid cell lines, as well as circulating monocytes and T cells. Trisomy 21 cells show increased induction of interferon-stimulated genes and decreased expression of ribosomal proteins and translation factors. An shRNA screen determined that the interferon-activated kinases JAK1 and TYK2 suppress proliferation of trisomy 21 fibroblasts, and this defect is rescued by pharmacological JAK inhibition. Therefore interferon activation, likely via increased gene dosage of the four interferon receptors encoded on chromosome 21, contributes to many of the clinical impacts of trisomy 21, and that interferon antagonists could have therapeutic benefits.

Turn to page 11 if you want Benji to live a life without downsyndrome.

Benji will face some complications in his life but with proper treatment can over come and cope with them to live a semi normal life. Benji is older now and has lost some hearing and now has to wear hearing aids