A Carshalton mum admits she thought her life was over and career finished when she learned her youngest son had Down’s syndrome.

Mum-of-two Lucienne Cooper, who had Billy through IVF, was initially told there was a one in 100 chance of the disorder following the first round of screening.

But a duodenal atresia, a blockage between the stomach and intestines, was detected 30 weeks into her pregnancy before results came back confirming a Down’s syndrome diagnosis.

Lucienne, who runs the Get on Down’s support group in Sutton, admits she “knew nothing” about it and had an “outdated” picture in her head of what it was.

“I knew nothing about Down’s syndrome or disability,” she said. “I had the outdated picture in my head of the elderly mother of a badly dressed adult with Down’s syndrome holding their mum’s hand as she pulled one of those old lady shopping trollies.

“The midwife who gave us the diagnosis didn’t help matters by giving us an out-of-date booklet about Down’s syndrome and just said that babies with Down’s syndrome were very floppy and would be difficult to breastfeed.

“And with that I was off to try and get my head around the complete change in our lives.

“I thought my life was over, my career finished, I thought Nathan’s life would be burdened with looking after a disabled sibling.

“Funnily enough my partner Derek took it all in his stride and reassured me that we would be able to do this. Thankfully for me, Billy came six weeks early at 34 weeks so I didn’t have too much time to worry as we had to start being his parents pretty soon after the diagnosis.”

Billy, who is now nine years old, attends a mainstream school and participates in a range of activities – including playing the cello, swimming and horse riding.

But his mum Lucienne says she has since come to realise there are various myths surrounding Down’s syndrome, having set up Get on Down’s after feeling alone and not receiving appropriate advice.

She set up the parents-led support group, which is now celebrating its fifth anniversary, and provides weekly coffee and tea meets, advice, pamper sessions and more.

It comes as March 21 marks World Down’s Syndrome Day, a global awareness day which has been officially observed by the United Nations since 2012.

The event encourages people across the world to choose their own activities and events in a bid to raise awareness about the genetic condition.

You can find out more about Get on Down's here.

Click here to find out more about World Down's Syndrome Day and the Down's Syndrome Association here.