A Poem by Jo Adamson: Would a Blood Test Have Helped

Jo co-owns a fabulous shoe shop in Bristol called Oddsox and is a busy Mum of 3. Big brother Alex is 16, Kitty, pictured below, is 8 (and has Down's syndrome) and Larry is the youngest at 6. 

Jo approached me a little while ago with a heart-felt poem she had written following the launch of the new ante-natal screening test for Down's syndrome. Simply called Would A Blood Test Have Helped, it sums up what many of us feel.

Kitty, 8, is the motivation for Jo's moving poem

Would a blood test have helped

Would a blood test have helped

Me make a wrong decision

What if I never felt

Her melt my heart 

To submission

Would a blood test have told me

She would hold me 

And tell me that she loves me

Would a blood test have given me the truth or lies in words that spell 

delayed learning

Would that have left me yearning

To destroy the little life that was growing inside

Wide-eyed

And ready to bring joy and grace 

To my sullen face

When she was put to my breast to feed

Would a blood test have told me

How much I would need her

To learn and grow 

And not weep and woe at my life

But be bright with the knowledge she would bring

Would a blood test have told me me she would make my heart sing 

Everyday

Would a blood test tell me that after my last breath

I would look back on what I had left

And say thank you, that was different

But the very best 

journey I could've possibly shared

With my daughter

who I simply couldn't have cared

That instead of the paired 21st chromosomes

Was given a third, not part of the herd we deem and are keen to call 

Normal

Would I have seen 

Any of that 

In a blood test

Jo Adamson , Bristol