Gunner
S T. R O M A I N
S T U D E N T
S P O T L I G H T
I
f you have had the pleasure of spending any amount of time with Gunner St. Romain, then you are well aware that he has always been a happy boy who is full of life! Just being around him for five minutes will instantly lift anyone’s spirits, and his story is one of perseverance and pure joy for the life he has been given. When he was born, his parents, T.J. and Tennille, were surprised to learn that he had Down Syndrome. He was born seven weeks early and only weighed 4.8 pounds. As a result, he spent the first four weeks of his life in the NICU. Although it was a shock to see their son go through so much at a young age, T.J. and Tennille wanted nothing but the best for him. “When someone has a baby that is born ‘imperfect,’ many people don’t know what to say. It’s a hard situation to navigate,” Tennille said. “I shed some tears, but not because Gunner had a diagnosis. The tears
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• Argyle Insights • Spring 2021
were shed because people felt sorry for us. I have never judged people for things they said to me because I knew they were in uncharted waters.” Tennille added, “After discussing this with my mother, she told me that when people tell her that they are sorry, she would just reply, ‘Why? We’re not.’ From that moment on, that was my response also. When your child is born with a diagnosis, most people look at them and see the diagnosis, and then the baby. Eventually, that changes, and the child is seen first.” And everyone has SEEN and is inspired by Gunner – from his friends and people in the community to his very own family who love him dearly. He has two younger brothers, Grayson (a sophomore at Argyle High School),
