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His vibrant personality has endeared Craig Lawson Jr., to many. The 17-year-old at Bok Technical High School, 1901 S. Ninth St., bonded with seven touched figures Sunday at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Buddy Walk and Family Fun Day. One of more than 300 such celebrations the National Down Syndrome Society has devised for this year, the event at Villanova University Stadium enabled the youngster to continue to prove his own experience with Down syndrome will never sully his spirit.
The 20th-and-McKean-streets resident indulged his love for travel by making his third trek to the Radnor Township site with his parents, sister Shannon and a quartet of other backers. His family learned of the gathering through Children’s Hospital, a key component in building and sustaining his emotional and physical identities.
“Craig has always had an interest in sports,” mother Denise Lawson said Monday from her son’s East Passyunk Crossing school. Her husband, Craig Lawson Sr., engendered most of their first child’s attraction to competition, but the matriarch has served as the boy’s coach for the last nine years. Her tutelage has added joy to the Lawsons and plenty of decorations to their home, as medals and ribbons adorn its walls.
Sunday involved an array of competitions, but the attendees yearned to raise awareness more than trophies. The previous editions endowed nearly $2 million to the Children’s Hospital Trisomy 21 Program, which assesses behavioral, developmental, educational and health needs to individuals with Trisomy 21, the abnormality responsible for most Down syndrome cases.
“I liked the support, especially from my mother and father,” Craig Lawson Jr., said from the classroom where he receives life skills instruction.
His team began Sunday with the 2-mile Buddy Walk. Having an early autumn constant will mesh nicely with his involvement with the Special Olympics of Pennsylvania Spring Games at East Falls’ William Penn Charter High School. The April championships have given Craig Lawson Jr., sporting thrills, and he has reciprocated by giving his best since 2002.
“We learned of the Olympics through Bache-Martin,” Denise Lawson said of her son’s Fairmount elementary school.
She and the eager boy worked together at FDR Park, Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, so he could compete in basketball, the 50-yard dash, the running and standing long jump, soccer and the softball throw. Early progress seemed especially rewarding, as he defied the assortment of Down syndrome’s typical physical consequences and called on a restructured heart to perform his feats.
“Craig was born with a hole in his heart,” his mother said of his 1993 birth.
He spent the first three weeks of his life at CHOP because of his congenital heart defect, known as Tetralogy of Fallot. Surgery came four months into his existence, and he returns to the facility for yearly follow-ups. His ticker worked well Sunday, as he completed the walk, played basketball with his father and friends and posed for pictures with characters from “The Berenstain Bears” children’s book series.
The day rounded out a trio of tests of his body.
“It builds my confidence,” he said of competing, “and makes me feel great.”
Sports have had ample company in helping Craig Lawson Jr., to facilitate his life. Friends and family adore him, and he revels in making them victims of his pranks. Music helps his repaired heart to thump, as he enjoys listening to rhythm and blues titans Beyoncé, Usher and Chris Brown, who appeared in one of his favorite films, 2007’s “This Christmas.” Video games also tap his massive energy reserves.
Craig Lawson Jr., always strives to have a good time but does not always see school as a source of enjoyment. Regardless, he excels in his studies. Babies typically receive 23 chromosomes from each parent. Down syndrome occurs when an abnormality known as a trisomy produces three copies of the 21st chromosome.
The affliction causes cognitive impairment and often comes with physical manifestations, such as poor muscle tone, reduced limb growth and facial deviations. According to www.medicinenet.com, it occurs once out of every 800 live births, with congenital heart disease striking roughly half of its carriers. His procedure mended his heart, but Craig Lawson Jr., deals with a murmur, although his mother said his organ never fails him.
His figurative heart impresses his elders and contemporaries. His journey has involved many stops, but he always eagerly adds friends to his circle. CHOP and Society Hill Pediatrics have given the soon-to-be adult great care, but KenCrest Services, serving autistic individuals and people with developmental and intellectual disabilities, helped him at its day care location at 1700 Fernon St. Citizens Acting Together Can Help offered developmental disability services at 1421 Oregon Ave. and its now defunct 17th-and-McKean-streets facility.
At Bok, he and 11 students receive special instruction from teachers Robert Sandy and Anthony Scaffidi, with whom he shares great rapport. He likely will continue to strengthen his interaction with them, as he will attend the school until he turns 21.
“After June, all the lessons will be work-related,” Denise Lawson said.
Bok will assist him in finding employment, one of his parents’ goals for him.
“I want for Craig to have many options,” his mother said of desires for him to find residence at a group home and to embrace independence.
He appears to have begun to make the second element a reality, as he enjoys being a classroom leader and taking responsibility for his actions.
“My dad helps me to be a man,” Craig Lawson Jr., said.
Turning 18 on Dec. 5 will not exclude the athlete from competing in future Special Olympics or Buddy Walks, so his brain and body will continue to calculate and demonstrate winning strategies.
“I’m not proud of myself,” he said of shunning vanity. “I just like to have fun.” SPR
Contact Staff Writer Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.
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