Young man trapped in boy's body
An Australian man is living his life trapped in the body of a young boy because of a rare genetic disorder that has stopped him from growing.
Adelaide man Stuart McKechnie is often mistaken for a young boy because of his short stature and inability to walk or talk.
The 20-year-old, who is 115cm tall and weights only 20kg, first stopped putting on weight a few weeks after being born four weeks premature on September 26, 1995.
Stuart was initially diagnosed with “failure to thrive” but it was later discovered that he suffers from Johanson-Blizzard Syndrome, an extremely rare genetic disorder that affects multiple organ systems. Sufferers experience pancreatic insufficiency, tooth abnormalities and a characteristic beak shape of the nose.
“Stuart got a scalding burn and spent 20-odd weeks in hospital - that's when they did an in depth look,” his father Glen McKechnie told the Daily Mail.
Day to day, Stuart lives like any normal child would, but with limitations, and is fully dependent on his father Glen and brothers Geoff and Nathaniel.
"He can't walk and is not able to feed himself, and not toilet trained," Geoff told Yahoo7.
"He plays with a few balls and balloons in the living room."
Despite being constrained to his body, Stuart has a penchant for swimming."
"Stuart loves watching the swimming on TV. If we ever want to change the channel, he gets stroppy," Geoff said.
"We put the sprinkler on outside and he likes watching that as well."
While he cannot speak, the happy and cheeky young man still finds ways to communicate and have fun with his family.
“He scoots around the house on his bottom and can play with toys. But as far as feeding, showering and changing, he needs me to do that,” Mr McKechnie told the Mail.
Mr McKechnie is also the primary carer for his wife and Stuart's mother, Wendy, who suffered a brain injury after a diabetic seizure in 2001.
