Letter to Friends & FamilyText Box: Dear Friends and Family, As many of you already know, our sweet Olivia Grace has been diagnosed with Trisomy 18 which is a chromosome disorder that occurs when a baby has 3 chromosomes in the 18th position instead of the usual 2, giving the baby a total of 47 chromosomes instead of the normal 46. It affects 1 in 3,000-4,000 babies. If you wish to know more about Trisomy 18 please visit this website www.trisomy18support.org. It has been very helpful, informative and encouraging to us. As you browse this site, you will find info specifically for friends and family. What all this means is that she is unlikely to survive. We may be blessed to carry her full term and then have her only a short while-minutes, days, or weeks. 90% of babies with Trisomy 18 do not make it to their 1st birthday. We have good days and bad days, but we have chosen to cherish each moment we still have with her. We have chosen to celebrate her time with us, for she is a special angel that God has seen fit to place in our lives and she is dearly loved. We are determined not to let it get the best of us. This means we will need your help in cheering us up at times. Humor does wonders! We understand you may not know what to say or may be uneasy, please put that aside. It is okay to talk about it, ask any questions, we are willing to share with you all about Olivia. Don’t feel like you have to have wonderful words, just calling or emailing or sending cards to say you are thinking about us or praying for us is great. God has given us an incredible strength to make it through this journey and He has also blessed us with incredible family and friends to be there for us during this journey. Thank you for being there for us now—the cards, the visits, the emails and phone calls are what we need to keep us strong—and afterwards, please keep them coming to encourage us to carry on. Love, Mike, Lyssa, Stephanie, Cody, Ethan and Olivia Grace