My name is Christina. I am twelve years old. I love my older sister, Kamilla, who is fifteen.

Now, most people would have times where they fight with their older sister (or brother); however, we aren't like most people. For one thing, Kamilla is mentally disabled. She's fifteen, as I just said, but she acts more like she's six.

Kamilla was born with one too many chromosomes. This caused her to be mentally disabled. She was born with something called Down syndrome.

Kamilla is like most kids her age: that is, she loves the color purple, talking on the phone, playing on the computer, going to school (she's mainstreamed into regular classes), and roller skating. However, she also loves things most six year old kids would enjoy: "Tickle Me Elmo", "Caillou", "Barney", and "Sesame Street" on television, and anything to do with ponies or princesses.

Kamilla laughs a lot, is one of the happiest people I know. Nothing really upsets her; yet if she sees other kids being mean to one of her friends, she'll cry, tell them to stop.

Sometimes kids make fun of my sister, which makes me mad. I tell them to quit it, that's not nice. Usually they back off when they see I mean business.

Kamilla's had several heart surgeries: silvery scars cross her chest like faint zippers; she's due to have another heart surgery sometime later this year. When upset or angry, her heart will act up; she gets short of breath, starts to sweat, which scares me.

We are afraid we'll have to call for an ambulance like we did when she was ten. She had trouble breathing, and her face was blue. It was terrifying. Ever since then, we do all we can not to make her mad, and we try to keep her from getting upset, for fear she'll have another spell.

When I was little, I didn't know about Kamilla being handicapped. I didn't understand anything about "Down syndrome", or know what it was. However, I learned about it when in fourth grade, and once I began to understand why my sister was the way she was, well, that just made me love her all the more.

Our love still stands today; we love each other more than ever now.

I have other friends at school who have what Kamilla has; they are all just as sweet as my sister. I have never known a person with Down syndrome who acted mean or said an unkind word about anybody. People with Down syndrome may look or act different, but underneath their "specialness", they are more like you or me than you may think. They laugh, they cry, they dream, they love to have fun, do many things. They have feelings too, and some of them are quite smart.

Like my sister.

She may have Down syndrome, may be mentally retarded, but she is quite smart. She can write her name, read simple books, and name her animals, letters, or her numbers up to ten. She can tie her shoes, dress herself, draw or paint, color in a coloring book, and even do the splits, which is something I can't even do! She can even do backflips; that's another thing I can't do!

Well, I am going to go now. Kamilla wants me to help her get ready for school; she can't find her "My Little Pony" lunchbox or her favorite purple pom rubberband to tie her ponytail. Take care; will write in here again!

~Love, Christina Sharples, age 12, sister to Kamilla, age 15. :)