Jacqueline says:
Opening a gorgeous pair of trousers and jumper for our daughter, Caitlin, I thanked our friends for the thoughtful gift. They were a size 3-6 months. Cait was four months old, so they should have fitted, but I had to roll up the sleeves and bottoms.
Her head seemed to be growing, but her body wasn’t catching up. Her torso, arms and legs were still as small as they had been when she was born. Maybe it was mother’s instinct – or the fact that I already had her brother, Ryan, then 11 – but I was worried something wasn’t right. She had a dinky button nose, but her bridge didn’t seem formed. It was the internet’s early days, but I searched online, and the word ‘dwarfism’ kept coming up – along with a list of scary complications.
My husband, Leon, and I took Caitlin to the paediatrician, who ran tests and our darling daughter was diagnosed with achondroplasia – a form of short-limbed dwarfism. Devastated, I worried about what it would mean for her. Would people stare? Would she be OK at school?
‘ We’ll just take it one day at a time,’ Leon, now 48, said and I agreed. It was all we could do.
We never treated Cait any differently to Ryan and, although she took longer to do things than her peers, she always found a way to adapt.
She needed a lot of surgery over the years – having her tonsils out to help her sleep apnoea, a condition associated with her dwarfism, and countless operations to strengthen and straighten her bowed right leg. She’s a terrible patient and used to scream down the hospital!
I’ve always been interested in fashion and Cait and
I used to spend hours shopping together, trying to find suitable clothes for her near our home in Plymouth, Devon. We’d often bicker over what was suitable but we soon made up! Cait has exceeded our expectations at every turn. She’s got a bright future ahead and we couldn’t be more proud.