Kemar Roofe joins the #LotsOfSocks campaign

Kemar Roofe joins the #LotsOfSocks campaign

Leeds United forward helps raise awareness for World Down Syndrome Day.

Today marks World Down Syndrome Day, a global awareness day used to celebrate people with Down syndrome whilst raising awareness about what Down syndrome is, what it means to have Down syndrome and how people with Down syndrome play a vital role in our lives and communities.

As part of the celebrations Leeds United forward Kemar Roofe teamed up with our charity partner of the year, Children’s Heart Surgery Fund, to take part in the #LotsOfSocks campaign which is now a massive part of the annual event.

The theme of wearing odd socks as part of World Down Syndrome Day started in 2013 and overtime it became the #LotsOfSocks campaign, with people across the world encouraged to wear odd or mismatched socks to help increase awareness around the day. The idea was created because chromosomes are shaped like socks and people who have Down syndrome are born with one extra chromosome.

Yosuke Ideguchi

World Down Syndrome Day is especially important to the club’s charity partner because approximately 50% of all infants born with Down syndrome also have a congenital heart defect and so many children born with Down syndrome that live in or near to Leeds are therefore likely to require help and support from Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.

Down syndrome which can also be known as Trisomy 21, hence the awareness day falling on the 21st of March every year, is a genetic condition that causes some level of learning disability and certain physical characteristics. The disorder is usually caused by an extra chromosome in a baby's cells and in most cases this isn't inherited but is simply the result of a one-off genetic change in the sperm or egg.

If you would like more information about Down's syndrome please click here or you can call the Down's Syndrome Association helpline on 0333 121 2300.

WORLD DOWN SYNDROME DAY | #LotsOfSocks

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