Linnea Karlsson, above educating the public with a speech about 22q.
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Linnea, below, on a 2018 trip to the Olympic National Peninsula.
She loves to travel!
- the most common syndrome you've never heard of. . .
My daughter, Linnea was born with 22q deletion syndrome.
As a young adult, she lives a full and active life.
Her goal is to bring peace,
acceptance and inclusion to all people.
Being a parent of an adult with special needs, gives me a unique platform to communicate
hope, hope and more hope. I know exactly how much love and joy came come out of life in hospitals,
icu stays.
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22q11.2 deletion syndrome is caused by a missing section (microdeletion) of chromosome 22, which is present from the time a child is conceived.
Present in 1 out of every 1,000 live pregnancies,
The deletion has the potential to affect almost every system in the body and can cause a wide range of health problems.
No two people are ever exactly alike, even when they have the same syndrome, and not every person with the deletion is affected in the same way.
Though not always present, the key characteristics of this syndrome include combinations and varying degrees of:
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heart defects
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palate differences
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feeding and gastrointestinal difficulties
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immune system deficiencies
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growth delay
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kidney problems
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hearing loss
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low calcium and other endocrine issues
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cognitive, developmental and speech delays
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behavioral, emotional and psychiatric differences (ADHD, autism, anxiety, etc.)
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