A rare disease is slowly turning a British teenager's muscles and tendons into bone.
Seanie Nammock is one of only 600 recorded sufferers of the genetic disease fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), The Daily Mail reports.
Since her diagnosis last year, Seanie, 13, has started to become paralysed as extra bone forms around her shoulders.
Her arms have already become locked into a bent position at her waist, so she needs help to dress herself.
"I've got more bones in my neck than a giraffe," she was quoted as saying.
"I don't get scared by looking at stuff on the internet as I don't automatically assume that something bad is going to happen to me ... It might not, I like to stay positive."
Despite researchers discovering the gene that causes FOP about three years ago, there is not yet a cure for the condition that slowly freezes a person like a statue.
"Patients with FOP literally form an extra skeleton, and that skeleton imprisons their body making it virtually impossible to move," Fred Kaplan, an orthopedic surgeon and the world's leading authority on FOP said.
Many FOP sufferers are misdiagnosed for severe pain which cause the bone build-up.
Seanie's condition was discovered last year after a sore lump formed after a trampoline accident that soon became extremely painful.
A slight knock or bump causes an area to become inflamed which then sparks the irreversible bone growth which locks the joints into place.
There is the possibility Seanie's condition could go into remission. But in the meantime, she is appreciating help from her friends and family.
"My friends are brilliant, they do my hair for me sometimes and help me get my coat on," she said.
Front page
RSS Feed