In the late 1990s, Mary and Brad Kish of Illinois, USA, couldn’t wait to meet their daughter. Mary’s pregnancy went smoothly, and the delivery went well.
During the birth of their daughter Michelle, there were no signs that anything was wrong. When she opened her eyes, though, the doctors knew something was wrong right away.
They didn’t know what it was until they looked through medical books and talked to a scientist from another hospital. Michelle had a wide, childlike face.
She was also balding and her nose looked like a little bird’s beak. It was found that she had Hallermann-Streiff syndrome, which is a genetic condition that only affects 250 people in the world. “No one at Children’s Memorial Hospital, where Michelle was born, had ever seen it in person.
When the doctor told us that Hallermann-Streiff syndrome was the problem, my heart dropped. Michelle’s mother told the Daily Mail, “I was worried about how we would take care of our child, who had a rare genetic disorder that only one in five million people had.”
Michelle has 26 out of the 28 signs and symptoms of the disease. Only one in five million people have this condition, but it can cause a lot of health problems.
Michelle has Hallermann-Streiff syndrome and is short, so even though she and her sister are only two years apart in age, Michelle can barely reach over her sister’s hips.
Michelle’s situation means she needs a lot of help, like an electric wheelchair, a hearing aid, a probe, a respirator, and things to help her see.
Because of the sickness, Michelle and her family have also had to spend a lot of time in the hospital. Even though she is 25 years old, people sometimes mistake her for a child because of how she looks.
“Michelle is now 20 years old. She is as smart as a dog and happier than she has ever been. Mary, her mother, told the Daily Mail that her daughter was one of the best 20-year-olds she knew. She continued by saying:
“By making people happy, she brings light into their lives. She knows that she is different, but she doesn’t let that get to her.” Even though she has to fight against a storm, Michelle is a great and unique young woman.
She wants, among other things, to be like her bigger sister and have a boyfriend. She doesn’t mind how tall he is because most people are bigger than her, but she wishes his hair was longer.She also wants to be a doctor.