Australia : We are all aware of the kind of mental and physiological changes one experiences through his or her transition from childhood to adolescence. But Emily Dover, perhaps, encountered the change without even getting the chance to comprehend what it was all about.
Dover is a five-year-old girl, hailing from New South Wales, Australia. She got her period when she was only four years old. And now, at the age of five, she is already getting signs of menopause, reported Independent.
Emily Dover has grown pubic hair, breasts and suffers from acne and body odour, her mother
At five-years-old, young Dover weighs seven stone and is reportedly bullied at her school for being overweight.
“She hasn’t even had a chance to be a little girl,” Dover’s mother, Tam, 41, said.
The Australian toddler is also extremely body conscious due to her difference in size to her classmates, who cannot understand the severity of Dover’s condition.
Though she was born a healthy baby, she began growing rapidly within a week of her birth and struggled to sleep.
At four months old, she had grown to the size of a one-year-old and by the age of two she began growing breasts and developing acne.
After years of inconclusive tests and analysis, Dover was diagnosed with Addison’s disease at the age of four.
Addison’s disease is a rare, long-term endocrine disorder in which the adrenal glands fail to produce enough of the steroid hormones, cortisol and aldosterone. Although the disorder is generally known to affect adults above the age of 30, it can sometimes trigger early puberty in children.
The required hormone treatment then stimulates symptoms of menopause.
Tam has set up a page called GoFundMe, to raise funds for her daughter’s expensive treatment.
