Marius

Marius is a child at the hospital in Ludus with Down's Syndrome. Although it is hard to tell, he will be seven in September, but only grunts. Jannes has a special ability to love each child and took an immediate interest in Marius. Through several months of love and attention, Marius was both beating his head less and scratching his head less (out of boredom and for stimulation, I think) and had become less demanding of attention that he was in need of. The nurses and staff had begun to call him by his name instead of by the nickname, Mongol.



One day, I let Marius stretch out and he put his legs down and began to put weight on them. That was a start and from there, pretty quickly he began walking around with the slight help of adult fingers. The nurses seemed to be excited for him and I heard "poti" several times -- "you can!". Last week, as Jannes and I with a team walked into the baby hospital, there was Marius on the bottom floor with a woman. Turns out the hospital called and wanted him and his sister to go home... so the woman was his mom, mother of 8 kids, one of which is 10 and also has Down's.



Jannes showed her how Marius can walk with assistance and she was excited.





We did get her address and hopefully will make a visit in the future.