She
has found the perfect dress for her school prom – a beautiful jewel-
studded number in unclad chiffon. And, like every other teenage girl,
Georgia Rankin can’t wait to show it off.
But while her friends fret
about clashing dresses, 15-year-old Georgia is thrilled to know no one
else be wearing hers… because it is made for a girl aged just three.
At just 80cm tall – just under 2ft 8in –Georgia is shorter than the
average two-year-old and is believed to be Britain’s smallest teenager.
She
has a a form of skeletal dysplasia which made her bones prematurely
fuse as a toddler and she will never grow any bigger. And while she is
in constant pain from the condition, Georgia remains impossibly
optimistic and cheerful.
With infectious laughter, she tells me:
“It’s my school prom coming up and me and friends have got a limo. I
can’t wait. I have managed to get the perfect prom dress. I love it – it
is so glamorous. This time it is an advantage being small. All my
friends are fighting over prom dresses but nobody will have the same one
as me.”
However with feet that take an infant size seven, wearing
high heels has to remain just a dream for Georgia, from Warrington,
Cheshire.
But while she is endearingly upbeat, Georgia and her parents Andrea and Simon have faced a lot in the last 15 years.
Her exact condition is so rare that it has never been officially
diagnosed. Andrea explains: “Her X-rays were sent to other doctors
across the world but nobody has been able to pinpoint it.”
It has
been a long and difficult journey for the family. Andrea, 36, an admin
assistant, and Simon, 38, a police officer, first knew something was
wrong soon after Georgia was born when she started to lose weight and
couldn’t keep food down.
Andrea says: “It was so scary when we first
had Georgia. I was only 21 and she was our first baby and we didn’t
know what was wrong. She was constantly undergoing tests and biopsies
and spent the first three years of her life in hospital.”
Georgia
was finally diagnosed with a bowel condition called tufting enteropathy
and, incredibly, she had to be drip-fed for the first 10 years of her
life.
“She couldn’t mix with other children because she had no
immune system so we didn’t socialise with other mums and other babies so
I had no one to compare her size to” says Andrea.
It was only when
Georgia was three and started pre-school sessions that her mum noticed
how much smaller she was than the others. And alarm bells had begun to
ring when Georgia had started to walk and seemed to be in terrible pain.
Andrea
says: “They did all sorts of scans then told us that her bones were
prematurely fused and she would never grow any bigger.
“I just felt
completely numb. Everything was spinning and I felt like I was going to
pass out. I had never heard of this and I just didn’t believe what they
were telling me. I was in shock for a long, long time and I had a bit of
anger as well.
“I would look at other mums and children and think
my child is never going to grow like your child. I just wanted to wrap
Georgia up and take her away.”
When she started school, Andrea worried about how Georgia would fare alongside other children her age.
“I didn’t want her to go and that was one of the hardest things I’ve
ever had to do, standing in that playground on the first day, knowing
she was never going to grow.
“When she started she didn’t stand
out that much because there were some other little ones. But even then
people were staring and I noticed other mums nudging each other. I
remember thinking that this was what it was always going to be like.”
But while some may still stare, life for the family now is very
different from their initial fears – especially when doctors at first
thought Georgia’s life expectancy would be no more than 10-14 years. Now
they believe she should live a normal life.
But Andrea can’t help
noticing the things Georgia has missed, especially watching her
four-year-old brother Brody, who is already taller than his sister.
“Brody
had his first swimming lesson last week and I really relished that
moment because it was something Georgia couldn’t do. She missed out on
so many little things like learning to ride a bike. Sometimes when Brody
reaches a milestone like that it does make me stop and think.”
But
for Georgia, now a confident, happy teen known to her friends as “Lil
G”, the key to being happy is simple. “I just forget I am small, I just
see myself as the same as everyone else,” she says. “I don’t know
anything different. I have always been small. When I started school I
didn’t notice I was different, it was only when I got a bit older that I
realised.
“When I was younger I did get bothered by people staring
at me, but now I am so much more confident. I don’t mind at all if
people ask me questions.
“I have never been bullied at school but
we were once at a caravan park and there were some older kids who said,
‘Look at her, she’s small’, and they kept saying it and saying it. They
were being really mean and it did upset me. But my friends at school are
amazing. They see past my disability, they just see me, Georgia, their
friend.”
But it has been difficult. For two years Georgia has been
confined to an electric wheelchair after the agony of walking became
unbearable.
“She is in constant pain and has been on morphine and
other drugs for two years,” says Andrea. “But she puts on this gorgeous
smile every day and everyone admires her so much.”
Georgia refuses
to feel sorry for herself. She says: “It’s been a bit rubbish as it
affects everything like school work because it’s hard to concentrate
when I’m in pain and even going out with my family. If you’re in pain
you won’t feel as happy. I used to go horseriding and that was my life
but I’ve had to stop now because of my hips. I’m hoping if the operation
works I can go back and do it again.”
One thing that frustrates
fashion queen Georgia is that she can’t use the same shops as her
friends. Her huge wardrobe is packed with rows and rows of shoes and
clothes in mini-sizes. All the latest trends of course.
“I love
clothes and shoes. It’s frustrating not to be able to go to Topshop and
Hollister like all my friends. Luckily River Island does a good
children’s range which I love. They even do patterned leggings.”
Her
family are currently trying to raise £18,000 for a state-of-the-art
SnapDragon wheelchair which will give her more freedom. But Andrea is
unsure whether Georgia will ever be able to live totally independently.
She
says: “It scares me to think of her on her own because she is so small
she wouldn’t be able to defend herself. Also she can’t lift things
because she lacks strength, so she can’t even lift the kettle to make a
cup of tea.”
The family recently moved to an adapted house and
Georgia’s room has its own bathroom, two sets of double wardrobes and a
sitting room complete with flatscreen TV. It’s the envy of all her
friends.
The only clues to her tiny size are the toddler-size bed
and the rows of tiny shoes in pride of place in her wardrobe. Andrea
says: “She has her own front door and eventually she could have her own
kitchen so it’s like a self-contained flat. As far as I’m concerned she
can stay here forever.”
For now though, Georgia is just concentrating on having fun with her friends and revising for her GCSEs.
“It doesn’t bother me at all being smaller,” she says. “In my head I am
just like everybody else. I will go shopping, to the cinema, go to the
chippy or on the bus. I can do whatever other teenagers do” she says.
“I might be small, but I am not going to let it stop me from doing anything I want to do. I will always give anything a go.”
Colin Bruce, consultant orthapaedic surgeon at Liverpool’s Alder Hey
hospital, says: “Georgia is a very brave young lady and a wonderful
person. Her treatment is progressing and our team is doing everything
possible to help her and her family.”
To donate to Georgia’s wheelchair fund visit her website
by Jillur Rahman
Jillur Rahman is a Web designers. He enjoys to make blogger templates. He always try to make modern and 3D looking Templates. You can by his templates from Themeforest.
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