60-Year-Old Indian Woman Got Shrunk To The Size Of A 2-Feet Toddler Due To Rare Disease

#1

A 60-YEAR-old woman has shrunk to the size of a toddler after being affected by an extremely painful and rare medical condition.

#2

Shanti Devi, from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, India, looks like a small baby and spends her days lying in a cot mumbling or singing alone.

#3 Shanti Devi, 60, who is surrounded by her family, spends her days lying in a cot

The 60-year-old was originally five-feet tall, but after giving birth to her third child she gradually became weaker and her bones stiff

#4

Her limbs which are shrunken and twisted, have become so rigid that no form of movement is allowed. Shanti can neither open her hands or spread her legs or even tilt her head. She is now forced to rely solely on her children for support.

#5 She describes her condition as "painful"

She said: ‘I have been living like this for nearly 25 years now. This is painful. I get bored but I can do nothing on my own. I miss sitting and walking and meeting my friends or watering plants.'

Shanti, from Kanpur in North India, told her family she was looking smaller but they did not believe her at first.

#6

Her concerned husband Gangacharan Kushwaha, 62, said: "She was perfectly healthy and leading a normal life when we got married thirty five years ago.

"Problems only started after the delivery of our third child, a son. She had become weak and very slow.

"After three months, she complained of severe pain in her bones that had become stiff.

"After a couple of months, she noticed changes in her body as she was looking smaller.

"She told us but we did not believe her until we realised she had shortened by half feet in just four months."

But Shanti's health deteriorated and she became completely bed-ridden after a thatched roof from a neighbouring hut fell on her legs.

"After that accident, she could not get up on her feet," Gangacharan recalled. "Her bones had become weak and tight.

"She complained of severe pain and eventually lost physical strength and became bed-ridden."

Gangacharan, who sought help from several doctors, was told there was no for treatment or medicine that could help her.

#7

The helpless husband added: "I took her to several hospitals for treatment. Wherever people suggested to me, I took her there. Even when I had no money, I did not lose hope. But there was no result. Eventually I gave up on her treatment."

Local physician Dr Pankaj Srivastava believes she has Brittle Bone disease also known as Osteogenesis Imperfecta.

He said: "I cannot say anything without diagnosis but it looks like to be a case of OI, a genetic disease where bones become fragile and break easily. But without examination, nothing could be said."

#8

The family initially sought help from several doctors, none of whom were able to diagnose the disorder.

So now, for the last decade Shanti has not been to any more doctors and her family remains uncertain about the ‘mysterious' condition.

A local physician, Dr Pankaj Srivastava, speaking of Shanti's condition said, "I cannot say anything without a diagnosis but it looks like to be a case of OI, a genetic disease where bones become fragile and break easily. But without examination, nothing could be said."

#9 The strange medical condition causes bones to break easily.

#10 Frequent fractured bones, muscle weakness, hearing loss, fatigue, joint laxity, curved bones, scoliosis, brittle teeth are some of the symptoms.

#11 "The Middle" actor Atticus Shaffer has Osteogenesis imperfecta.