When we adopted our daughter from China, she was just 6 months old. As excited as we were about the adoption, we were also very aware that we were taking her away from her birth country and the rich culture. As she was so young, she never had a chance to embrace the culture of […]
Adoption, not birth, allow this mother-daughter to share a genetic bond (Photo Gallery) Geneticist and young girl have Turner syndrome
The Chinese New Year, a day to celebrate good fortune and happiness, is coming up on Feb. 10. But the holiday came early for Dr. Catherine Ward-Melver and her newly adopted daughter, Zoe, who is Chinese. Dr. Ward-Melver, a clinical geneticist in Akron Children’s Genetics Center, and her husband, Kevin, traveled to China in early December to complete the adoption and bring 3-year-old Zoe back to Akron to start their new life together. Zoe was not only given the gift of loving parents and a new home but a mother who shares a special bond. Both Dr. Ward-Melver and Zoe have Turner syndrome, a genetic condition in which a woman does not have the usual pair of two X chromosomes.