Saskatoon baker serving up a future for twins born with Down syndrome

Saskatoon’s Faith Bohn is whipping up more than delicious stuffed cookies.

The baker’s three-year-old twins Hayden and Hudson were diagnosed with Down syndrome, a condition where a child is born with an extra copy of their 21st chromosome, when they were born in Feb. 2018.

Sunday marks National Down Syndrome Day and Bohn admits she didn’t know the exact date or much about the condition before her twins were born.

“Absolutely nothing,” Bohn said. “It never touched us in any sort of way. This was very, very, new to us. It was a shock. You don’t think of any of the health aspects until it’s presented to you — and that’s when reality sets in.”

Roughly 1 in every 700 Canadian newborns are diagnosed with down syndrome, which causes physical and mental developmental delays and disabilities.

Finding other parents who could relate to her experiences was a huge boost for Bohn as well.

“I needed to make connections,” she said. “The abundance of people and families it reaches — it’s worldwide. I’ve have people who reach out to me and I’ve reached out to people from different parts of the world that I would have never had the pleasure of talking to.”

Bohn, a former hairdresser, instantly wanted to help her children and leaned on her baking experience to eventually create Down 2 Cookie, a home-based baking business specializing in artisan stuffed cookies fresh to order.

Over the last two years, the business has grown to work closely with Down syndrome organizations and programs, with 10 per cent of the profits donated to fund Down syndrome research.

“The first thing I wanted for the boys was that they have purpose,” Bohn said.

Using that idea, Bohn quickly discovered the employment rate for people with Down syndrome was vastly different than those without the condition.

Bohn didn’t want her children to be limited later in life, and she knew she could share her baking talents with them.

“It just kind of came to me,” Bohn said. “How could I go further with that? I could employ people and create job opportunities for people like my boys.”

Bohn was able to create a program where people with Down syndrome are able to work with her and gain work experience.

“To beef up their resume and help them go find what type of job they want,” she said.

Her first employee named Daniel started in October 2020, and it’s been a perfect relationship to help grow her business.

“If I could just break those barriers down and show those people it’s such a seamless effort, and there are programs out there,” she said.