Magpies support the Right Start Foundatation

Down syndrome is the most frequent genetic cause of mild to moderate intellectual disability and associated medical problems and occurs in around one out of 800 live births, in all races and economic groups. Down syndrome is a chromosomal disorder caused by an error in cell division that results in the presence of an additional third chromosome 21, or "trisomy 21."

Down syndrome is not attributable to any behavioural activity of the parents or environmental factors. It just happens.

Children and adults with Down syndrome have a wide range of abilities. A person with Down syndrome may be very healthy or they may present with unusual and demanding medical and social problems at virtually every stage of life. Despite this, every person with Down syndrome is a unique individual.

WHAT IS THE RIGHT START FOUNDATION?
The Right Start Foundation is committed to raising awareness in our community to give these children the best start in life. We know with the right start in life they can achieve the highest goals and become assets to their communities. With the assistance of early intervention at a young age nothing is impossible for these children. Many go on to working and living full lives with hobbies and goals.

The Right Start Foundation was formed by a group of mums wanting to give their children the best chance at life they deserve.

We are our children’s biggest advocates and we plan to forge ahead in any way we can to create awareness and give them the right start in life.

Our main goal in forming this charity is to build our own Down syndrome centre, the first of its kind in Australia. We want to make sure our children and many others receive all the therapies needed to give them the right start. We want to accommodate the families, provide weekly support groups, offer information on each stage of their child’s life and provide individual counselling if required. We don’t want to assist these families just in the beginning - we want to help throughout their child’s life with assistance in schooling, independent living and assistance with employment into their adult years.

We are all very passionate about this project and are always happy to share our vision in hope that we will have the support of our community.

For more information or to assist our foundation in achieving its goal, email therightstartmacarthur@hotmail.com

The Western Suburbs Magpies aim to work alongside the Right Start Foundation throughout the year and hope to not only help raise awareness of the foundations services, but also to provide opportunities for children with Down Syndrome and their families special access to the often secret world of running a NSW Cup rugby league side with the aim of putting smiles on kids faces.