Community Corner

Ever Heard 'Your Child is not Normal'? Read Huntington Woods Mom's Book

Judi Markowitz, who was told not to expect her now adult daughter to live past the age of 2, gives hope to other parents in "The View from Four Foot Two."

A Huntington Woods mom is sharing what it’s like to live with Marshall-Smith Syndrome, a rare medical condition, in a book offering her daughter’s perspective, “The View from Four Foot Two.

Judi Markowitz's biography of daughter Lindsay’s battle against the condition was released by Sunbury Press Inc., according to a press release.

There are 30 million people around the world with syndromes you have never heard of – Weaver, Soto’s, Stickler, and Ehlers-Danlos just to name a few. And, there are 30 million mothers who, like Markowitz, were informed of the syndrome their baby was born with in words that sounded something like this:

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“Your child is not normal. Blah, blah, blah. Your child will be different from all the other children. Blah,blah, blah. Those eyes you’re staring into right now belong to someone who’s damaged. It is not your fault. Or, maybe it is your fault. Blah, blah, blah. You have just delivered a functioning baby, but you have also delivered yourself a life sentence.”

Some mothers, like Markowitz, whose children were born with Marshall-Smith Syndrome, also heard these words: “We have no record of a child with this syndrome living beyond the age of 2.”

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Sometimes these words are delivered with compassion and sorrow. And sometimes they’re delivered no differently than a diagnosis of heartburn.

Markowitz’s first child, Lindsay, was born with Marshall-Smith Syndrome in 1979. She can still hear the doctor’s words when she shut her eyes at night. She did not completely understand them at the time. She does now.

Denial has coalesced into reality with a brutal vengeance. It affected her life and the life of every person she has ever known and loved.

This year, Markowitz decided it was time to share a mother’s story to celebrate the miracle of Lindsay and, hopefully, to allow every mother of a “normal” child never to take their miracles for granted.

About the Author:

Judi Markowitz has been teaching English for 27 years. She instructs 12th graders in the morning at Berkley High School and in the afternoon she teaches a Detroit Film class at CASA (Center for Advanced Studies and the Arts). It’s a consortium of six school districts.

She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Education and a Masters Degree in Education Leadership from Wayne State University. She is married to Jeffrey Markowitz, her best friend. They live in Huntington Woods, Michigan and have four grown children Lindsay, Chad, Eli, Todd, and daughter-in-law, Chana Tova. They also have three grand-daughters.

“The View From Four Foot Two” is Markowitz’s first published book.

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"The View from Four Foot Two"

Authored by Judi Markowitz

List Price: $16.95;  5.5" x 8.5" (13.97 x 21.59 cm); Black & White on White paper; 184 pages; Sunbury Press, Inc. ISBN-13: 978-1620062883 ISBN-10: 1620062887 BISAC: Biography & Autobiography / Medical Also available on Nook and Kindle. For more information, please visit the Sunbury Press web page.



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