Believe: Living with Dup15q Syndrome Documentary
Believe is a glimpse into the lives of four families, whose children have been diagnosed with Dup15q syndrome and the different ways this little-known syndrome affects each child.
What is Dup15q?
Dup15q syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by having an extra copy of a portion of chromosome 15 in the 11.2 – 13.1 region in combination with a number of symptoms that may include hypotonia and motor delays, intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and epilepsy, including infantile spasms.
Chromosome 15q duplications most commonly occur in one or two forms, either as an extra isodicentric 15 chromosome (IDIC15) or as an interstitial duplication of chromosome 15q.
Individuals with chromosome 15q11.2-13.1 duplication syndrome are born to parents of every socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic background. There is no known link between Dup15q syndrome and environmental or lifestyle factors. In other words, there is nothing that parents did before or during pregnancy to cause their child to be born with the chromosome 15q duplication.
Meet Tucker
“Awareness for Dup15q syndrome is so important to me because first, I like to show that special needs people need people to understand what they go through. Growing up, I remember sooo many people being picked on and if I ever thought that was happening to Tucker, scary things could happen. And secondly, I need, need, need to show that Epilepsy research is nowhere near where it should be. We need new meds, badly. LGS is known for being medicine resistant. We’re blessed with a neuro that will not give up because we know eventually we could strike gold and if we don’t, we’ve tried our absolute best that we could.” – Shannon Davison mom to Tucker