For the Love of Sofie

InMotion 2018

Early on Kristina and Russell Haynes dismissed the “professional opinions” and put all of their faith and trust in
God vowing to fight for their precious gift Sofie. Their youngest of five children Sofie, was born four years ago with Trisomy 13. She has three of the 13th chromosome and has already beaten the odds by surviving past her first birthday.

Blessed with a father, who has the ability to transform a problem into a solution, Sofie utilizes her father’s inventions to aid her development. The “stander” Russell created allows Sofie to be upright for physical therapy. Sofie is unable to stand on her own. Her father’s invention gives her free range of motion with the ability to properly position her in standing position. Russell also invented a suction device that helps prevent her from choking.

Sofie also is blessed with a mother with unwavering passion for her children. As a mother of five, Kristina juggles the busy lives of her children. Recently, their lives were made easier with the purchases of an accessible van large enough to meet all of the family’s needs. Today, Sofie and mom travel stress-free to UCFS for treatments and siblings’ events like big sister Elizabeth’s casting calls.

“We in fact received the van on the eve prior to this year’s Family Feast at Sarah’s school! The one-year anniversary of what was such a difficult and horrible experience for me was celebrated today with the ability to take Sofie, by myself, on this outing easily, painlessly, with ZERO TEARS from her or I and we were able to enjoy every moment of the Family Feast celebration with her sister Sarah and the school! A very special and momentous occasion for me.”
– K. Haynes

Kristina and Russell share Sofie’s inspiring story through speeches to medical students and the support group Trisomy.org. Sofie’s medical breakthroughs are featured in the American Journal of Genetic (search Russell Haynes). To stay up to date on the Trisomy 13 Princess Warrior check out her blog on Facebook -fortheloveofsofie.