Nate Simon: There Was Never Anything to Be Sorry About
At RODS Heroes, we believe every individual with Down syndrome has a story worth telling—a story filled with possibility, purpose, love and gifts that can change the world.
Nate Simon’s story is one of those stories.
And perhaps no one can tell it better than his mom, Holly.
Nate was born on November 26, 2002. He was Holly’s fifth child and was expected to arrive by C-section because he was her first breech baby. But just moments before the procedure, doctors performed one final ultrasound.
Somehow, that 10-pound baby had turned.
“No one noticed,” Holly recalls. “Especially me.”
Nate entered the world quietly, without crying or screaming. His father took one look at him and immediately sensed something different. He leaned over to Holly and whispered, “Holly, I think our son has Down syndrome.”
Holly didn’t know what that meant.
What she did know was that she needed reassurance. She looked around the room at the doctors, nurses and staff, hoping someone would smile and tell her everything was going to be okay.
Instead, she was met with sympathy.
“I’m sorry,” they told her.
In those first two days, Holly heard a long list of things Nate might never be able to do. The future seemed to be presented to her as a collection of limitations before she had even had the opportunity to discover who her son was.
“I decided to throw the book away,” Holly says. “He’s two days old, I thought.”
Then came a moment that changed everything.
The day after Nate’s birth, Holly and her husband were sitting in a room holding their newborn son and crying. Her mother walked in.
“Why are you crying?” she asked.
“Mom, I think our child has Down syndrome.”
Without hesitation, her mother responded:
“So, he’s alive, isn’t he?”
That was it.
One sentence changed the trajectory of their family.
The first year of Nate’s life was difficult and frightening. He was very sick, and there were plenty of reasons to worry about what the future might hold. But Holly made a conscious decision not to live in that future.
She lived in the moment.
She enjoyed each day.
And she watched Nate become Nate.
Today, Nate is 23 years old—and his life looks nothing like the list of “never” she was given at the beginning.
From being met with “I’m sorry” to receiving standing ovations at concerts.
From modeling to becoming the lead in a major motion picture.
From creating 21 Pineapples and changing lives “one funky shirt at a time,” to spreading love and kindness wherever he goes.
Nate has become exactly what his mother hoped people would see that first day: not a diagnosis, but a person with an extraordinary life ahead of him.
“Your Son Is Going to Change the World
One of Holly’s favorite memories happened when Nate was a child.
Approximately 15 years ago, Holly took all five of her children to a large bookstore in Chicago. While there, they encountered two beautifully dressed women wearing fur coats.
On the elevator, Nate simply said hello.
Later, the family saw the women again while waiting in line to check out.
Nate slipped away from Holly, walked over to the women he had met just minutes earlier, took one of their hands and looked up at her.
“Hello.”
That simple greeting opened the door to a conversation with everyone around them. People began asking about Nate—where he went to school, who his teachers were—and sharing stories about their own children and grandchildren.
Then one of the women walked Nate back to Holly.
“Ma’am, I just want to tell you that your son is going to change the world.”
Holly's response came naturally.
“I believe he already has.”
Tears streamed down her face.
She has never forgotten that moment.
Neither have we.
The World Needs Nate
As Nate’s social media presence has grown, so has his ability to reach people far beyond his own community. Holly receives messages from mothers around the world thanking her for sharing Nate.
“Thank you for showing what our child is capable of doing.”
“Thank you for sharing Nate with the world.”
“The world needs his love and his kindness.”
Holly believes there is still a great deal of work to do.
“I wish people realized that our children with Down syndrome are people. Literally.”
“They are kids. They are teenagers. They are grown-ups. Their blood is the same color as yours.”
And perhaps most importantly, Holly wishes people would stop approaching Down syndrome with pity.
She wishes they would celebrate instead.
“Don’t tell a new parent that you’re sorry,” her story reminds us. “Celebrate their baby. Congratulate them. See the child before you see the diagnosis.”
Nate’s Greatest Gift
At 23, Nate has grown into more than a son. He is Holly’s sidekick.
Her other four children have grown up and moved into their own busy lives. Nate, however, remains by her side.
“Morning, noon and night I am responsible for every part of his being,” Holly says.
“The way he loves me. The way he needs me. The way I love him and the way I need him. It’s so beautiful and I feel so blessed.”
That may be the heart of Nate’s story.
A life that began with uncertainty.
A diagnosis that was initially presented as something to mourn.
A mother who was told to focus on what her son might never do.
And a little boy who went on to show everyone just how much was possible.
Holly says she thanks God every day for allowing her to be Nate’s mom.
“If people only knew the journey would be bumpy, but absolutely incredible,” she says, “I think they would all wish they had a child just like Nate.”
At RODS Heroes, we couldn't agree more.
Because Nate’s story reminds us that sometimes the greatest mistake we can make is deciding what someone’s life will look like before giving them the chance to show us.
Nate was never someone to feel sorry for.
He was someone to celebrate.
And 23 years later, he is still showing the world why.
Nate didn’t just change his family’s trajectory.
He’s helping change the way the world sees Down syndrome.
And Holly was right all those years ago:
He already changed the world.
