Parents of 8-Year-Old With Trisomy 18 Ask for Prayer After Another Hard Hospital Night

“Watching my daughter struggle for weeks on weeks is really taking a toll on me.” That is how Cody described watching his 8-year-old daughter, Trinity, through another difficult stretch of a life that has been medically complicated since birth.

Her mother, Nina Williams, posted a photograph from beside Trinity’s hospital bed. She said the child spent the night in such discomfort that nothing seemed to ease it.

Trinity was born with Trisomy 18, also called Edwards syndrome, a rare genetic condition caused by an extra copy of chromosome 18. It can affect the heart, brain, kidneys and other organs and often brings serious, lifelong complications. Many children with the diagnosis do not survive infancy; those who live past the first years typically need ongoing medical care.

Nina said Trinity has faced major health challenges throughout her life. During the latest night of pain, she prayed as she has many times before. “So many times, I have surrendered Trinity at the altar and declared, just as Abraham did, ‘Here is my Isaac.’ She belongs to the Lord before she belongs to me.”

She said she held Trinity through the night and cried out when God felt far away, while holding to the verse, “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

She added that she will keep fighting for her daughter “until the Lord chooses to take her home,” and that she still believes Trinity is here for a reason. She asked people who have followed the girl to continue “warring for her life.”

Cody’s words captured the other side of the same night: the strain of watching a child hurt when there is no simple fix. Trinity has just turned 8 — eight years of birthdays that many families with this diagnosis are told not to expect.

Source: Family posts by Nina Williams and Cody describing Trinity, an 8-year-old living with Trisomy 18; medical background on Trisomy 18 from standard genetics references and the Support Organization for Trisomy 18, 13 and Related Disorders (SOFT).