Library Thursday: Loving Andrew: a fifty two year story of Down syndrome

This new book promises to be a welcome addition to our collection about adults with Down syndrome, growing older with Down syndrome, mental health and family accounts.

Dr Brian Chiccoine wrote the Foreword, which is available to read in full on the Adult Down Syndrome Centre's blog, with the author's permission.  These are the introductory paragraphs: 

Romy Wyllie’s Loving Andrew: A Fifty-Two-Year Story of Down Syndrome is about her son, Andrew who was born with Down syndrome in 1959. The reader is given an in-depth look into Andrew’s life. We not only get to know Andrew, the person, we get to know Andrew as part of a family and part of the developing Down syndrome community.

As the Medical director of the Adult Down Syndrome Center (of Advocate Lutheran General Hospital and Advocate Medical Group), a facility that has served the medical and psychosocial needs of over 5000 adolescents and adults with Down syndrome, I have had the opportunity to get to know many people with Down syndrome and their families.However, I always appreciate any occasion to get a more in-depth look into the lives of individuals with Down syndrome and their families. This book is one such opportunity.

Romy Wyllie has shared Andrew’s journey with us but also her journey and that of her family. I was blessed to know Andrew, to be part of his life, and to experience joy and discomfort with him. Even knowing all that, I learned from reading this book. I have a better understanding of Andrew and with that I can bring this enriching experience to the next person with Down syndrome I serve.


Prof Michael Bérubé (Director, Institute for the Arts and Humanities, The Pennsylvania State University), endorses the book as ...
.... a moving, unflinching disability memoir that tells a story most disability memoirs don't or can't touch. This is not a story about a cute, charming kid with with Down syndrome; it's a story about a cute, charming kid with Down syndrome who grows up to become an independent adult with multiple challenges. It's also about what 'family', 'love' and 'independence' can mean for all of us. Loving Andrew tells a story that needs to be told, a story that needs to be heard.

Loving Andrew can be purchased on Amazon, here. (Note that there is a button to tell Amazon that you would like a particular title available to read on Kindle, by just one click.)

Loving Andrew is on order for our library, Down Syndrome NSW members can arrange a loan by email, or by calling the library on 9841 4410 (the librarian is available on Wednesdays and Thursdays - voicemail is available at other times).