Abigail Lee, just 2 years old, was diagnosed with a rare type of ᴅᴡᴀʀꜰɪsᴍ called Pʀɪᴍᴏʀᴅɪᴀʟ Mɪᴄʀᴏᴄᴇᴘʜᴀʟɪᴄ Osᴛᴇᴏᴅʏsᴘʟᴀsᴛɪᴄ Dᴡᴀʀꜰɪsᴍ Tʏᴘᴇ II, a ᴅɪsᴏʀᴅᴇʀ that is characterized by impaired growth.
Emily Lee, 25, says her daughter’s growth was first questioned while she was still pregnant. When Abigail was born, she weighed just 900 grams. She is currently at 3 kilos.
“Abigail grows two grams a day, so she will still weigh 3 kilos by her next birthday,” said her mother. “She only goes into newborn clothes. I don’t know what I’m going to do when she’s old enough to say she doesn’t want to wear those onesies anymore,” vents Emily.
Emily says that her best friend also has a two-year-old son, and the difference between the two children is impossible not to notice.
“My best friend has a two-year-old son, and seeing them next to each other is mind-blowing,” she said.
Abigail has grown to just 60 centimeters and has trouble playing with toys, which are usually bigger than she is.
“Toys for kids her age are giant in comparison to her. She has a Barbie table and chairs that she can sit on easily,” said Emily.
According to her mother, Abigail is a healthy child, but she was born with ᴅɪsʟᴏᴄᴀᴛᴇᴅ ʜɪᴘs, and because of that, she cannot walk; she only crawls.
“She is healthy, but she has ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴs because she was born with ᴅɪsʟᴏᴄᴀᴛᴇᴅ ʜɪᴘs and she cannot walk, but she crawls and goes to therapy. She eats like a normal child, but there are many things that a normal two-year-old does that she cannot do because of her size,” says the mother.
Also, Abigail can’t see well, and because of her size, her parents are having a hard time finding the right type of glasses for their daughter.
Abigail was diagnosed eight weeks after she was born. Doctors warned the family that the child was not growing as it should.
“When I was pregnant, she was always three weeks behind in her development,” the mother recalls.
She was born at 36 weeks by ᴄᴇsᴀʀᴇᴀɴ sᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ and was eating and breathing well; however, because she was very small, she had to go straight to the ICU. The parents say that when they found out about their daughter’s ᴅɪᴀɢɴᴏsɪs, it was a big scare, as both had never heard about this type of ᴄᴏɴᴅɪᴛɪᴏɴ.
For Emily, it was very difficult at first; she didn’t know what to do to help her daughter. Her mother spent months looking for someone who had gone through the same thing and could help in any way.
“The day she was diagnosed, I just sat in my car in the hospital parking lot and cried for two hours because I didn’t know what I was doing,” recalls Emily.
Abigail has an older sister, Samantha, who is four years old. The girl understands that her parents need to pay extra attention to her younger sister, and she tries to help as she can.
“It’s hard to balance a kid with special needs and a kid without, because Samantha knows her sister needs more help. […] Samantha is an absolute rock star; she gets involved in all the therapy, and she’s very protective.”
