Nobody dies of trisomy 18...

When we first got the diagnosis of trisomy 18, and truly believed the predominant mythology that children with trisomy 18 are 'incompatible with life', Chris asked the fetal medicine consultant, "What do babies with trisomy 18 die of?" He got the answer that we would come to find everyone give: a shrug of the shoulders, a change of the subject, a "Well...trisomy 18," in a doubtful voice.

Keeping it Simple - Survival in trisomy 18

This is the Keeping it Simple summary - read the detailed version here.

So here you are: your fetus or newborn has a diagnosis of trisomy 18 and you ask, "How long will she live?" Your doctor tells you that it's "rare to make it to birth, but if she does, a few days; some live a few weeks"; your googling tells you that 8% live until a year; and your new online friend from the Facebook trisomy group tells you, "Don't give up hope! My daughter's 14!" (or 18 or 25), and you have no idea what on earth to say when your friends ask, "How serious is it?"

Survival in trisomy 18

This is the detailed version - read the Keeping it Simple summary here.

So here you are: your fetus or newborn has a diagnosis of trisomy 18 and you ask, "How long will she live?" Your doctor tells you that it's "rare to make it to birth, but if she does, a few days; some live a few weeks"; your googling tells you that 8% live until a year; and your new online friend from the Facebook trisomy group tells you, "Don't give up hope! My daughter's 14!" (or 18 or 25), and you have no idea what on earth to say when your friends ask, "How serious is it?"

What is trisomy 18?

I'm guessing that most people who read this will know this already, but we might as well start with an overview.

Trisomy: "an abnormality characterised by the presence of an additional chromosome to the normal diploid number". Chromosomes are the components of cells that carry the person's genes - often likened to striped socks, where a sock represents the chromosome and the stripes are the genes.