For one Orlando mom, raising a special-needs daughter is her life’s work. Now, she hopes that by sharing their struggles, she can help others.

  • Lataasha Byrd quit her job to raise Cairo, 6
  • Cairo has Down syndrome
  • Byrd shares her lessons and experiences on a blog

“If it resonates with one person, it made it all worth it, all of the things that we went through,” said Lataasha Byrd, who chronicles her journey raising her daughter, Cairo, on a Facebook blog. “I started to write about everything that was happening to us. I wrote about the good, I wrote about the bad.”

The blog, “Countdown to K,” or kindergarten, turned into a book, which Byrd published earlier in August.

Cairo, now 6 years old, was born with Down syndrome, and her mother struggled to find resources. Byrd started reading and researching, then tried out therapies, specialists and doctors. Byrd gave up her career as a stylist to dedicate herself full-time to her daughter. In addition to homeschooling Cairo, she learned sign language to help her daughter communicate.

“I started signing with her when she was 7 months old. And by the time she was 10 (months old), she had a pretty good vocabulary,” she said.

Byrd said the feedback she’s received from mothers around the world has touched her heart.

“One message in particular was from a young mom in Africa,” she said. “They don’t have a lot of resources, and the children don’t get therapies. She has a young daughter, just like mine, and says she would take the ideas and everything that I would put on the blog and use them for her daughter.”

Cairo’s speech therapist, Jennifer Cosby, said Byrd’s dedication to her daughter is inspiring, as is her willingness to share her journey with others.

“I love how she is working with Cairo at home, even when Cairo comes home from school or before school,” she said. “She’s definitely a hero in the fact that she does share with other families, other moms who don’t really know the angle to take with their kids.”

Byrd said she hopes that by posting their daily lessons, challenges and triumphs, she can comfort other moms in similar situations.

“You’re not alone. There are other people who have these same types of issues,” Byrd said.