Chatting to Gina Daly is like a breath of fresh air. It makes sense that she has over 250k followers on her Instagram account, she has us laughing the whole way through our chat.
She shares recipes as well as insight into her life, including her four-year-old son Gene who was born with Down Syndrome. Since his arrival into the world, Gina has been using her platform to raise awareness about Down Syndrome as well as all the resources we have here in Ireland.
“If you’re given a diamond, you should show the world how it sparkles,” she tells us ahead of World Down Syndrome Day on March 21st.
Here we chat about Gene, being “the cook who can’t cook” and why her children will always be her babies no matter what…
Talk to us about World Down Syndrome Day!
World Down Syndrome Day is the 21st of March every year. And for me, it’s extra special because I actually found out I was pregnant on Gene on the 21st of March, 2021. And I didn’t know Gene was going to be born with Down Syndrome. I didn’t know he had it until he was born. So it’s a double celebration for us. And on the day worldwide and in Ireland, people celebrate their children, their loved ones who have Down Syndrome. I know Down Syndrome Ireland does amazing work for the community. The goal for this year is to support them and raise money to fund all the services. They do everything from early intervention right through to adulthood. The key is advocacy. That’s what I do. I talk about Gene. I show people that Gene’s ability in life is. There’s nothing holding him back, and it’s about creating awareness. The day is all about showing people that our children are so capable and that there’s a place for them in this world.
What a special day for you and Gene.
Obviously, at the time, it was just a random day that I decided to take a test. It was only looking back after I had Gene that I saw that it was the 21st of March. How incredibly coincidental is that? I always say, it was written in the stars. Gene was meant to be, I was meant to be his mommy.
Gene really is a social media star! When did you decide to share him online?
Having a platform, everybody had been following my pregnancy journey, people were eager to know if the baby was here and how he was. And I know for the first week when I had him, it was all new information to me. Gene was post-diagnosis, so we didn’t know he had Down Syndrome until he was born. This was a whole new learning curve. It was a lot of newness in my life, a path that I didn’t expect to be walking down, but one that I was fully embracing. I know the world can be a cruel place. I didn’t know how people were going to react. But in that moment, I had never felt so happy. I didn’t want anyone to take that happiness away from me. I kept him to myself for the first week. I didn’t want to let anyone see him. I wasn’t ashamed of him or anything, but I didn’t want anyone to burst that love bubble. So a week later, I put a picture up, and I said, “Gene is here. He’s amazing. And he is my little rainbow baby with an extra colour. He was born with Down syndrome.” The outpouring of love was just incredible. I think from that moment on, I knew I’d share. It was all new to me, and it opened up this community of people, of women who were pregnant, who had just got a diagnosis or women who had just had a baby with Down syndrome, and who could see into my life and see that it was okay. Life wasn’t going to be any different. It was going to be just that little bit extra special. A friend of mine said, “If you’re given a diamond, you should show the world how it sparkles.” It was always very important to me to be an advocate for him and for people like him. I wanted to make sure that the world is a better place for him in the future.
That’s so special. You really are making that change.
When Gene came along, the messages started coming in saying, “We came for the food, but we’ve stayed for Gene”. And I think because he’s such a shining light, like he is a ray of sunshine. Any time, he’s on social media, he’s smiling and he’s happy. I think being able to be somebody who can just be an ear for people in the same situation or someone who people can talk to. It’s really a magic feeling. I’m no different to anybody else, but I do understand that I have a big platform and I’m able to to kind of give people a little insight into our lives. And I think once people see that magic, it changes a lot of people’s perspective. That’s one thing I’ve noticed. People would say, “Oh, I didn’t realise people with Down’s syndrome could do this or they could do that.” It just shows people how capable they are. My Gene is no different to his brother and sister, Holly and Ben.
You mentioned having people reach out to you. You must have a lovely community of parents, who may have felt isolated before.
When Gene was born, I didn’t know about Down Syndrome Ireland. I didn’t know about any services that are available. I went into it completely blind. It was only through information that I got from the hospital or leaflets I got from packages that I was sent from other Mammies with children with Down Syndrome. Knowing that there are support groups with other Mammies, if even if it was just to have a cup of tea, opened up a whole kind of new world to me. Now, if I can share stuff about Down Syndrome Ireland and the services that they have for people who are just starting their journey, I will. It’s just that you build this lovely community of people. And I think when you meet other parents with children with Down Syndrome, you’re drawn to them immediately and you have this instant connection and you can talk for hours. I think it’s so important for me to be able to constantly talk about it.
You mentioned your other two children, Holly and Ben. They’re teenagers now, so what is it like seeing them grow into young adults?
Time goes by so quickly. I remember seeing them as babies vividly and then seeing all their stages of life and now into almost adulthood. Holly is 17, she’ll be 18 in November, Ben is 15 and Gene is four now. As a mammy, you love your kids, and you want to always be their mammy and do all the things for them. They just become so independent. They’re looking for jobs and they’re going into town by themselves. It’s great to see them grow into such good kids, and I’m proud of them. And to see them with their little brother makes me even prouder because I think they were good anyway. But seeing them with Gene and knowing that when he’s their age that he’s not going to have to worry about anything because they’ve got his back. And that’s the most important thing for me.
Of course, we have to talk about your cookery as well. You describe yourself as “the cook that couldn’t cook”. Could you have ever imagined when you started posting on social media that you would be here?
No, oh my God, no, never. I mean, when I say I couldn’t cook, like literally everything I used to make was just the same, bland meal. I wouldn’t experiment with flavours or taste or anything. I actually remember when I rang my dad and told him that I was writing a cookbook. And his exact words were, “But chicken, you can’t cook.” And I said, “I know, daddy. But I’ve learned to enjoy it and I’ve learned to love it. And I’ve learned to experiment.” I did it for myself and Karol, because the kids were much younger and we were always busy with something, whether it was school or homework, and there was never time for us. So the only time that we had time together was in the evening when we were cooking. We’d have a laugh, or on the weekend, we might pop open a bottle of wine, and we’d like, “God, we actually have a bit of craic. We enjoy doing this.” Cooking brought us together. We sit down every evening, and we have our dinner.
What has been a pinch-me moment for you?
Well, I could have never imagined writing one book, let alone four. I just love cooking. When I get feedback like that’s not nice, it kind of hurts my soul because I just want to please people through food. Being able to get feedback from people that they enjoy my food and then being able to put them in a book for people to have in their press at home and open it whenever they feel hungry is mind-blowing, really is. It’s a really, really special, special thing for me because I’m feeding the nation, and I never ever thought I would even feed my kids. I suppose there’s been quite a few. But when we won an An Post Book Award for cookery book of the year, which I think was a really pinch me moment because again, never did I think I’d have a cookbook, but never did I think I’d be in a category with other chefs and winning. So that was a huge, huge pinch-me moment for myself and Karol.
Gina is a passionate advocate for the rights of people with Down Syndrome, and feels strongly about breaking stereotypes, promoting equality, and celebrating the abilities of those with Down Syndrome. Through her Instagram profile, she regularly highlights wonderful Gene, who can be seen helping her in the kitchen.
Gina is asking people across Ireland to support kids like Gene by hosting a Lots of Socks party in your community or picking up limited-edition socks from downsyndrome.ie.
