A NORTHWICH-based Down syndrome charity has appeared on Heart Breakfast as part of the radio station's charity mission Global’s Make Some Noise.

Down Syndrome Cheshire spoke to Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden about the work it does to support more than 170 children with Down syndrome and their families in Cheshire.

The charity’s mission is to educate parents and carers, raise awareness and support children to help them reach their potential.

It is one of 100 small charities being supported by Global’s Make Some Noise in 2021, helping fund a new part-time speech and language therapist for one year.

Lawrence Caygill, CEO of Down Syndrome Cheshire, told Heart listeners: "At Down Syndrome Cheshire, we support people with Down syndrome to live the life that they choose.

"There’s no reason why people with Down syndrome can’t get married, have a job, travel the world and have an active social life, so we use early intervention and support to form the building blocks of these achievements so that people with Down syndrome can reach their full potential."

Julie Duff, a mum and the chair of trustees, added: "One of the things we do at the charity is to help the medics understand that the terminology they use when they are diagnosing a child with Down syndrome is really important.

"It’s not a ‘risk’ of having a child with Down syndrome, it’s a ‘chance’ that you might have a child with Down syndrome.

"You’re not at risk at winning the lottery, you have a chance at winning the lottery."

Julie encouraged people to get in touch with the charity.

She said: "We've been through that journey, we've walked in their shoes, and we can really take a lot of the fear out of some of the emotions that they might be feeling if they’ve just had a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome."

Tune into Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden, weekdays from 6.30am – 10am.

To donate £10, £20 or £30 to Global’s Make Some Noise text HEART10, HEART20 or HEART30 respectively to 70766.

To find out more and get in touch with Down Syndrome Cheshire visit DScheshire.org.uk.