“Look at the beautiful little daughter God has given us.”  Such words come easily to most dads as they look into the face of a newborn child for the first time.  But Eileen McClenaghan could find no echo to her husband’s words, she was struggling to accept the news that their daughter had down syndrome.

“I was so upset,” Eileen recounts, “In fact for the first few days I hoped she’d die.”  Little Judith not only had downs, she also suffered from a severe heart defect.  And so for the Holywood woman it was a devastating time: “For me it was all very stressful but I knew friends were praying and gradually I knew the darkness lifting - and I thought ‘I can accept my daughter’.”

But it was to be a childhood full of struggle for Judith – undergoing major heart surgery at the age of three and with spinal problems developing soon afterwards.  And then when she was just ten her dad died.  For Eileen on top of the pain and grief, was the knowledge she was now a single parent…

Now 21 Judith does struggle with a significant amount of pain, but her mum praises the positive way her daughter faces life.  Eileen tells of one defining moment in their lives, when Judith took control in a tough situation.  They had to decide if Judith was going to have a very delicate spinal operation.  For Eileen it was an impossible decision to make but Judith took it for them:  “I remember her saying to me, ‘Mum I’m having this operation.  I don’t want to be deformed.  And my dad always told me there’s no point in crying over spilt milk.  Anyway, Jesus came to my room last night and told me my back would be ok.’”  And it turned out Jesus was right – the spinal surgery went well.

While Eileen has struggled with the demands that her daughter’s illness has placed on their family’s life she says her faith in God has got her through:  “In the early days I struggled with why my heavenly Father allowed it all.  I found it almost impossible.  I was very angry.  But now I’ve realised I’m angry with down syndrome and not God.  I have known His faithfulness, and the more important thing is - so has Judith.”