Dad’s letter to daughter with Down syndrome on wedding day goes viral
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A father whose daughter with Down syndrome recently got married has written a letter for the new bride that will tug at the heartstrings of every parent and child.
“Do you remember all the stuff they said you’d never do, Jills?” Paul Daugherty, a sports columnist for the Cincinnati Enquirer, writes in the letter, which was posted Wednesday, Aug. 26 on the website The Mighty, to his daughter Jillian. “You wouldn’t ride a two-wheeler or play sports. You wouldn’t go to college. You certainly wouldn’t get married. Now… look at you.”
“You’re the nicest person I know,” the letter continues. “Someone who is able to live a life of empathy and sympathy, and without agendas or guile, is someone we all want to know. It worked out for you, because of the person you are.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}ABC News reported that Jillian, 26, married her friend of 10 years, Ryan, whom she met while playing on a soccer team for teenagers with disabilities.
“I don’t know what the odds are of a woman born with Down syndrome marrying the love of her life,” he writes. “I only know you’ve beaten them.”
Daugherty, who has also penned a memoir about raising his daughter, called “An Uncomplicated Life,” described the newlyweds’ Saturday, June 27 nuptials as dreamlike.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“I see you now. The prep work has been done, the door swings open. My little girl, all in white, crossing the threshold of yet another conquered dream. I stand breathless and transfixed, utterly in the moment. ‘You look beautiful’ is the best I can do.”
Click for more from The Mighty and ABC News.