Shelley MacKewn is a happy mother to two children. But she told a crowd assembled at Tom Davies Square she is also “physically, emotionally and financially” exhausted. Her seven-year-old daughter, whom she and her husband adopted at birth, has been diagnosed with partial fetal alcohol syndrome.

“It is not easy living with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). It is not easy when it is invisible, when you see a lot of behaviour, when you see the dysmaturity,” MacKewn told the crowd.

“(But) I’m a happy mom. I have joy in my life. I have two beautiful children,” she added.

About 40 people associated with the Sudbury-Manitoulin FASD network gathered at Tom Davies Square on Monday to declare Sept. 9 FASD Awareness Day in Greater Sudbury.