Wed, Dec 31, 1969
Amanda Nixon has always struggled with the problems that come with having large breasts. At the age of 27, she has breast reduction surgery, but in the months afterward, she notices strange symptoms. She experiences painful spasms in her right arm, and her right breast starts hardening and turning purple. After months of being told they are simply reactions to the surgery, Amanda is diagnosed with breast cancer, and is immediately put through a mastectomy and a course of chemotherapy. After being declared cancer-free, she is surprised to learn that none of the other members of her breast cancer support group have experienced her strange symptoms. She takes her case file to a breast oncologist, who gives her the diagnosis of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC), a very rare but extremely dangerous manifestation, in which the cancerous cells grow in fast-spreading sheets instead of tumors. When Andrea Vandenburgh is born, she seems to be completely fine. But within weeks of birth, she begins displaying bizarre symptoms. She has severe developmental delays, a very small head, and stiff, jerky movements in the body. In addition, Andrea can't keep much of her food down, and as a result only weighs ten pounds at seven months old. Strangely, she seems happy all the time. Her mother Heather has been sure something is wrong from the beginning, but the doctors keep brushing her off, and she begins fearing for her daughter's life. Finally, a geneticist notices Andrea's strangely happy disposition and, after running a blood test, confirms a diagnosis. Andrea has Angelman syndrome, a very rare neurological disorder, resulting from a deletion on the fifteenth chromosome.
