Her body had not changed. Since the moment she was conceived, a tiny error had been embedded in one of her two copies of chromosome 20, the copy inherited from her mother. The only difference: Now she knew. That knowledge would transform — and, in some ways, dismantle — the life she and Eric had begun together. But not in the ways she expected.

    Last fall, Sonia and Eric spoke at the Broad to a room full of donors. Eric told them he and Sonia initially thought they had suffered terrible luck, but then they realized they had been given a chance. “It’s an incredibly special thing to have 20 years’ advance notice to work like hell to change the fate that you’ve been given,” Eric says.

    He remembers his first glimpse of Sonia and how her smile drew him to her, full of curiosity, full of promise. “Maybe it’s a lot to read into a smile,” he wrote recently. “But the years have shown that I wasn’t wrong. I think fundamentally she believes . . . that the world is an incredible place, a place that can surprise you and where you can surprise yourself. And somehow, believing it makes it true, because that’s how her life has been, and since we got together, that’s how my life has been too.”

I love this article. It sparked something in me that I don't know how to describe. Hope this isn't inappropriately tagged, but the resilience and love demonstrated by Sonia and Eric was inspiring to me.


posted 2918 days ago