Teenager 19yr old trapped in the body of a toddler
Girija Srinivas is a 19 years old teenager trapped in the body of a young child.She suffers from a rare medical condition called congenital agenesis of the bones, which has led to her body failing to develop and grow properly.
As a result, she is just 2.5ft and weighs a mere 12kg, the same weight as an average two-year-old.Miss Srinivas cannot sit up because her head is so heavy in comparison to her body, and she is unable to lift anything beyond a cup of coffee.
'My mother helps me with eating and other normal things. But while I'm painting and drawing I need nobody's help. I do it myself.
'I sell five to six paintings per month, which makes me between 8,000 and 10,000 rupees (£86-108).
'I have to look after my parents and I need to have the financial capacity to do that.'
Miss Srinivas lives with her family in Bangalore, where her father is a tailor and her mother devotes herself full-time to her care.
Her mother, Nanda Baayi, said it is difficult to see her daughter with this condition.
She said: 'We faced difficulties from the beginning. Even now, it's tough for us to look after her. There is immense pain in our heart.
Doctors do not know what is causing Miss Srinivas' condition, and her family cannot afford her medical care. As a baby, her family were told her condition was permanent, which they said was 'heartbreaking'
Miss Srinivas has defied the odds and is carving out a career as an artist, dreaming of being independent enough to look after her parents financially
Miss Srinivas lives with her father, a tailor, and her mother, her carer. Her mother Nanda Baayi, said it is difficult to see her daughter with this condition. She said: 'There is immense pain in our heart'
'When she was born, she was not like other babies. When the doctors told us that her condition was permanent, it broke our hearts.'
Miss Srinivas' father earns less than £5 a day, making it hard for the family to get her even the most basic medical treatment.
She needs further evaluation by doctors to discover what the cause of her condition is.
Doctors say oxygen cylinders or continuous positive airway pressure therapy - a machine that helps a person breathe more easily - could help tackle her respiratory issues, according to the Bangalore Mirror.
I don't want to be popular because of my rare health condition but I want to be famous someday for my art
However, these treatments would cost up to 15,000 rupees a month (£162), which the family simply cannot afford.
But despite her parents' fears for her future, Miss Srinivas dreams of an independent life - and hopes her art will be her route to self-sufficiency.
She said: 'I don't want to be popular because of my rare health condition - I want to be famous someday for my art.
'I do not want sympathy, I want recognition.
'I have an aim to achieve more in life. It's my dream to go abroad and achieve something big.'
Miss Srinivas could never go to school because of her condition, but she says isn't bothered.
'I am not sad for not going to school. I don't care about it too much,' she said.
Miss Srinivas admits she has been on the receiving end of cruel taunts about her size, but says she has a large circle of friends in her neighbourhood
But like most other girls her age, when she is not drawing, she likes to watch TV.
She admits she has been on the receiving end of cruel taunts about her size, but says she has a large circle of friends in her neighbourhood.
'People say many things about me, laugh at me and call me mad. They even wonder how my father is looking after me,' she said.
'But my family members treat me as a normal person and I have many friends of my age.
'They never tease me that I am a toddler.
'I am not sad for being too small and unable to walk or move like a normal person.'
And despite their relative poverty, her mother Nanda says she supports her daughter's dreams of independence.
She said: 'I am confident enough to tell that she can be self-dependent. It is her dream too.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health
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