Little boy sings ‘Aren’t we all different’ to little brother with Down syndrome and it goes viral
A Little Boy Sings to Baby Brother and Says ‘Aren’t We All Different’. Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber’s “10,000 Hours” has probably never been performed as tenderly as during this rendition by six-year-old Rays from Arkansas.
The young singer soothed his little brother Tripp, who was born with Down syndrome, with the famous melody. Joyful mum Nicole Powell filmed the heartwarming scene on her phone and posted it to Facebook in January 2020, and the footage quickly went viral. According to Good Morning America, Tripp was just six weeks old when the video was shot and had just returned from intensive care.
While he was in the hospital, he was constantly loved by his family, including Race, who visited Tripp every day after school and told him all about his daily tasks. According to Powell, they had a strong relationship from day one.
“From the moment (Tripp) was born, Race said, ‘Give me the baby,’” she told GMA. “Every day after school he would just talk and talk to Tripp, telling the kid all about his day.
Whenever a popular song came on, Race would tell Tripp that the song was for him. The poignant lyrics about spending 10,000 hours getting to know your heart are a perfect fit for Race and Tripp’s special bond, which is sure to continue into adulthood.
So when Powell caught Race singing the song on video, she knew she had to post it online and share it to raise awareness about Down syndrome. Along with the video, Powell also worked to destigmatize Down syndrome.
Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this article to watch the full video 
In a Facebook post, Powell reminds people that love doesn’t count chromosomes. It says:
“Love doesn’t count chromosomes, or as Race says, ‘Aren’t we all different?’
Powell admits she was scared when she first learned of the diagnosis when she was pregnant with Tripp. However, she said all her doubts were completely dispelled when Tripp was born and she heard him cry for the first time. In a follow-up to his original post on December 30, 2020, Powell urged expectant mothers to “not be afraid” of their baby’s Down syndrome diagnosis:
“To any mother-to-be who receives the news that your unborn baby has Down syndrome, don’t freak out like I did,” she wrote. “That baby will be such a gift to your family in so many ways and I promise his/her siblings will love them like no other!”
On Tripp’s birthday last November, Powell took to Facebook to share her experience of giving birth to her youngest child. It turns out that Tripp’s welcome to the world was not an easy one. Powell was on her way to a routine doctor’s appointment and was quite late in her pregnancy, as she explains in her post. She notes that she already had trouble carrying one of her other children to term, but so far everything has looked good for her latest pregnancy. But then, during the examination, the doctor’s reaction to something he saw worried him. A few seconds later, she learned that her fear was justified, because the doctor had some unfortunate and urgent news.
“He said, ‘I’ll be right back, let me get something.’ -the other and they were looking at me. I remember immediately getting a lump in my throat. He said, ‘we’ve got to go now and get this little guy out by C-section,’” Powell said.
The baby’s heart rate was extremely low, which meant little Trip had to “get out now.” Powell admitted the experience was frightening. “I remember still feeling Tripp kicking and I didn’t even care if he had Down syndrome anymore, I just wanted him to live,” she wrote. Thankfully, little Tripp survived.
“I remember saying ‘but is he OK?’ And as soon as I said that at 10:55 I heard the sweetest softest cry I’ve ever heard. “I’ve never cried with any of my babies (and I love all my babies to deɑth) but his cry was like a sound I needed to hear for so long to know it was going to be okay ,” Powell continued.
Down syndrome is one of the most common chromosomal abnormalities worldwide. According to a 2010 study by the Department of Pediatrics in the Netherlands, it is estimated that 1 in 1,000 babies born each year worldwide suffer from Down syndrome. In the US, the National Strangulation Syndrome Society (NDSS) states that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 700 babies born each year suffer from it.
The exact cause of this genetic disorder is still unknown. As far as science knows today, Down syndrome is not an inherited disorder. Almost all children with Down syndrome are born to parents who have a normal number of chromosomes, and only 1% of known cases are inherited from one parent.
Scientists can safely say that the age of the expectant mother affects the chances of a child being born with Down syndrome. According to the NDSS, a 35-year-old woman has about a 1 in 350 chance of giving birth to a child with Down syndrome, though the odds increase steadily as a woman ages — reaching 1 in 100 by age 40 to age 49 . , the theoretical chance is 1 in 10. As more couples choose to have children later in life, cases of Down syndrome have also been on the rise in recent years, and painless early screenings have increasingly become available.
Although Down syndrome cannot be cured by today’s medicine, it is not an insurmountable problem. Children born with it experience a delay in physical and mental growth, developing more slowly than a healthy child. Every child and case of Down syndrome is also different, which means that there is a wide range of possible symptoms and stages of development. In general, the care and education of children born with trisomy 21 is more time-consuming, but very feasible and cost-effective. In the US, 40% of children with Down syndrome who attend high school graduate or go on to graduate. Many continue to hold steady jobs and live independently, although most still need help managing their finances.
Did you find Tripp and Race’s sweet exchange as sweet as we did? Let us know and be sure to pass this on to your friends and family!
