Internet Sensation Noah is a Big Brother

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Aug 9, 2013   |   3:55PM   |   Washington, DC

LifeNews has been a fan of Noah and his Dad (Rick Smith) since he first started his web site several years ago. Shortly after Noah was born with Down Syndrome Rick, an “Idea Shaper” and “Storyteller,” learned that 92% of children who are diagnosed prenatally with Down syndrome are aborted.

After learning this heart-breaking news, Rick decided to leverage the power of the Internet and his passion for creative storytelling to do something about it.

“A lot of people stand outside of abortion clinics picketing and yelling at people, and it just didn’t seem to me like that was the best way to reach people, so I decided to do something a bit more creative. I decided to pull out my iPhone and take a 60 second video of Noah every day and put that on my website, I call it an online narrative of my son’s life. I did this because I wanted to give the world a window into the life of what it’s like raising a child with Down syndrome. I know that a lot of parents who receive a diagnosis of Down syndrome are scared and worried because they don’t know anything about Down syndrome. The unknown is a powerful thing for people.

So, I thought I’d introduce the entire world to my son and by doing so hopefully take away some of the unknown. To let them see that our son having Down syndrome really isn’t that big of deal. Our family is pretty normal. We aren’t sitting around crying in a corner. There is a lot of joy in our house; we celebrate the life that God created when He created Noah. When you replace the unknown with truth it allows people to walk forward in hope. And our hope is that more babies will be brought to full term as a result of this website.”

And his web page has done just that.

Noah has become an internet celebrity, featured on numerous local and national news stories, and they reach millions of people through their site, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and other social media channels.

In a recent post titled” Spoiler Alert: Noah’s a Big Brother!“, Rick announced that Noah is a big brother, and within two days of publishing the post had more than 4,000 Facebook likes, and numerous comments both on Facebook and the post itself. Many of the commenters called attention to the way Rick made the announcement of his newest child.

Instead of using the traditional statement “Noah’s going to be a big brother” he titled the post “Noah is a big brother!” This subtle tweak in wording by Noah’s Dad shows that he values human, and acknowledges that life starts at conception. Rick goes on to say he wants to introduce his readers to his newest addition by showing them a 9 week old sonogram image and video of his or her new child’s heart beating. After encouraging his readers to listen to his new child’s heartbeat, he says:

“I have no idea how anyone could listen to something like that and believe that 1.) The little baby growing inside my wife isn’t a human being, and 2.) That there isn’t a God.”

In the post Rick also talks about his family’s decision not to do any prenatal testing;

“We didn’t do any testing when my wife was pregnant with Noah, and we aren’t going to do any this go round either. I’m not against prenatal testing if it’s used to help a parent prepare for any surprises in advance, and not for checking to see if a child is worthy to born. (Did you know a mother’s womb is the most dangerous place in the world for a child with Down syndrome?)”

Noah’s Dad has a large platform, and it’s encouraging to see him use his platform, influence, and technology to boldly declare that all life has value. Thank you Rick for how you love your son, your family, and promote the sanctity of life.

LifeNews wishes to extend a special congratulations to Rick and his family, and to Noah on being a big brother! He is going to be a great one, and it will be be fun to get to know this new addition as well! If you don’t already know about Noah’s Dad we encourage to follow their journey on their blog, Facebook, and Twitter page, and be sure to check out Noah’s birth story!