Katya Maria Sansalone was born in Toronto, Canada in the early hours of August 25th, 2001. Her inspiring birth was uncharacteristically easy for her grateful mother Rachel, and was attended by her loving father Sam, her gleefully enthusiastic sister Gemma Rebekah, and her sleepy brother Caleb Jacob who despite all efforts unfortunately could not be roused from sleep at the pivotal moment. (In fairness, there wasn't much time to coax him from what was a very deep sleep as Katya was out with essentially just one push.) As soon as Katya was born Gemma launched into one of the most moving states of childhood wonderment and escalating joy we had ever had the privilege and fulfilment of observing, essentially taking over the welcoming and care of her new baby sister with bleary-eyed awe and unswerving attention to every tangible detail as eager assistant to both mother and staff. Rachel's delivery nurse commented that this had been one of the most beautiful birthing experiences she had ever witnessed. With the family at a pinnacle of happiness, love and joy filled the room.

Nobody suspected any problems at the time of Katya's birth. She was 'awarded' a top-notch Apgar Score of "9" and really seemed to be thoroughly enjoying her introduction to life on the outside, curiously and intently looking at the newly discovered faces in her family. There was no noticing of typical tell-tale trisomy 13 dysmorphic features as these were not obvious in Katya's case, at least not until staff took a harder look after Katya's condition changed later on. It wasn't until about four hours after her birth that serious concerns formed around a sudden and sustained drop in her blood oxygen saturation levels. That was the first manifestation of problems that over the next few days were to eventually cascade into a very rare and terrifying cluster of medical challenges that to any parent would feel like a fearful and horrifying nightmare. Also rare was Katya's mere survival through those opening weeks -- the majority of live newborns with trisomy 13/18 die within their first week. But Katya survived and continued to develop within her limitations.

It was not long before Katya began developing favourite things and activities much like any other neonate. It was obvious to family and hospital staff that Katya's number one was Mummy; for long periods she would gaze with exploratory concentration at Rachel's face, and was clearly in her element when breastfeeding. She liked bottle-feeding mom's-milk too, offering the first opportunity for Sam to personally feed one of his children at the neonatal stage. Around her second month a family tradition was continued with newborn bathing bliss where Daddy took first place again as favourite bathing conductor. Katya particularly loved to be submerged spa-style, everything under intensely warm water, including ears, with only the bit of her face encircling her eyes, nose, and chin peeking above the surface. Once so submerged, she would sometimes 'sigh-growl' in a very funny, de-escalating manner when entering the bath from an agitated state (such as after getting a diaper change to which she used to react with a surprisingly rebellious and very vocal baby's fury). It looked like the warm water all around her body, head, and in her ears just melted away all that 'tension' of the day. Then the baby-growls would slowly fade away while she drifted into a blissful place of sheer calm in true spa-lover's spirit -- just like her Mom.

(Still to come: anecdotes about Katya's later development.)

(Photos and captions coming as soon as we can dedicate more time to finishing the site.)