Friday 56 and FASD Day

This is my second week trying out this cute blogger meme for book bloggers. Freda informed me that the meme is actually from http://www.storytimewithtonya.blogspot.com/ Sorry Tanya for last week’s mistake. My book is strangely nearby and I have read it multiple times as it is considered the bible for those of us who parent children with FASD Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Damaged Angels by Bonnie Buxton, a well known Canadian journalist, is the story of what happened when they adopted a child they didn’t know had FASD. FASD is a physical disability caused by a biological mother’s prenatal alcohol consumption. This is a bittersweet and sad tale of the struggles they endured, physical, financial and emotional, and the sad life of Cleo, their child by adoption. As FASD awareness day is right around the corner I have been looking through this book again and as luck would have it I have a copy right here. None for nine is the motto. There is no safe amount of alcohol, no safe time and so safe type of alcohol to consume during pregnancy.

 So these are the rules:

* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.

* Turn to page 56.

* Find the fifth sentence.

* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.

* Post a link along with your post back to this blog.

* Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Damaged Angels excerpt: (much of page 56 is a list of characteristics that Buxton noted referred to in the news in court stories – the obvious inference here is that many criminals sitting in jails today are sitting there as a direct result of their disability going undiagnosed. FASD is often undiagnosed because it is so difficult to get an accurate history of birth mother’s drinking patterns while pregnant.)
This is the list on 56:
slight build, receeding jaw, unresponsive, quiet, seeming lack of remorse, model prisoner, learning disabled, ADHD, unemployed, welfare recipient, violent rages, alcoholic, addict, school dropout, repeat offender, alcoholic parents or broken home, native background, adopted, foster child.
This is a paragraph I like: “We are all interconnected. Our lives profoundly influenced by small events that may have happened years ago, involving people we may never know. Back in April 1979, a woman addicted to alcohol, whom I have never met, became pregnant with her third child, continued to drink through her pregnancy _and whirled my life into an unending orbit of love, grief, despair, and hope.”
Damaged Angels is a great read and a beautiful memoir about this tragic, largely preventable disorder. Buy it and give it to someone you know who plans to get pregnant.