Little Girl Whose Tongue Wouldn't Stop Growing Prepares For Preschool

Four-year-old Olivia Gillies was born with Beckwith-Weidemann Syndrome, a rare disease that occurs in just one per every 15,000 births, leaving her with an overgrown tongue. 

Parents Emma and Ian discovered their daughter's condition during a seven-month check-up scan. 

They were allowed to take Olivia home following birth on the understanding that she'd need several operations over time. 

At just 15-weeks old, Olivia underwent her first tongue reduction operation, as well as a tracheostomy, which meant she'd require a feeding tube. 

It then took two more operations in the following years before doctors were confident her tongue would develope normally.

And they were right-now four years after her diagnosis, and three operations later, Olivia will head off for her first day at primary school in the U.K. A feat her parents once only dreamed of watching. The tiny tot even capable of breathing and eating on her own for the first time since age one. Her mother telling the DailyMail, "After everything that happened, she's a very happy child." 







 

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