A young girl from Australia had her period when she was 4-years-old.
According to Independent, young Emily Dover is well on her way to experiencing menopause at the young age of 5. The sweet girl from New South Wales suffers from Addison’s disease, an extremely rare disorder in which the adrenal glands do not produce enough steroid hormones. The disease affects between 100 and 150 of every 1 million people. To learn more about this rare disease, click here.
In this very unusual situation, Emily prematurely grew breasts, pubic hair and is already experiencing acne.
“She hasn’t even had a chance to be a little girl,” Dover’s mother, Tam said.
Addison’s disease typically affects adults but in the rare case that it affects children, the increased puberty side effect does arise. Emily is also on the Autism spectrum which is common for people suffering from Addison’s disease.
Emily is well aware of her situation and as a result is extremely body conscious at school, where according to Tam, she’s been bullied for being overweight. Her classmates cannot comprehend what’s going on with her body.
Emily was born a happy and healthy baby but found herself rapidly growing and struggling to sleep. When she was four months old, she was already the size of a one-year-old. At two, she already found herself with breasts and facial acne.
Years went by where doctors struggled to find the source of this rapid aging syndrome but at the age of four, she was finally diagnosed with Addison’s disease. She lacks the two key hormones necessary for normal growth: cortisol and aldosterone.
Tam has reached out to the community for help by creating a GoFundMe page. Money raised from the campaign will go toward the pricey hormone therapy necessary to treat Addison’s.
“Here we are, hoping that you can help make a difference in our little girl’s life, so she can just feel like a normal five year old,” says the GoFundMe page.
