You might recognize Juliana’s story from her Discovery Health Channel documentary. And now, there’s some good news about her progress.
When we first saw Discovery Health Channel‘s documentary on the little girl now known worldwide as the “Girl Born Without A Face,” we were extremely touched and curious about her medical progress. And now, Juliana Wetmore, 8, who suffers from a severe case of Treacher Collins Syndrome — an hereditary disease that causes defects of the face — has some good hope for her future.
Although Juliana has been through countless numbers of surgeries, since she was born in March of 2003 missing 30-40% of the bones in her face, she recently underwent a “big deal” surgery in February that involved doctors taking rib bone and beginning to form cheek bones with it.
“It wasn’t easy for her, as her face swelled to the extent that she couldn’t open her eyes,” her nurse, Jeanne, wrote on Juliana’s webiste. “Even so, she didn’t want to lay around in a hospital bed, so she was home on her third post-op day.”
And although the surgery didn’t change Juliana’s appearance much, it is the first step in the process to give her cheekbones.
“Even though Juliana doesn’t look very different, she apparently feels different,” Jeanne wrote. “She can feel firmness now where there wasn’t any before. She puts her fingers beneath her eyes and says “I love my new cheeks”! So amazing!
Juliana is picutred above with her adopted sister, Danica, who also has Treacher Collins Syndrome.
We are truly affected by her story and can only hope her surgical progress goes well. She is a strong little girl who has a lot of fight with her.
David
Posted at 10:47 AM on May 14, 2013
SURE! God bless Juliana and my best wishes, too – but… was it the right decision of here parents to have a second child? I think living with TCS is ??? really not easy. Before Juliana was born her parents did not know their first child will have this heavy, heavy syndrome. now she is here and lives, of course there is just one right thing to do: Giving her anything! The SECOND child of the Wetmores… I can´t understand why they had a second own child instead of adept one of the millions of children who have no parents and this is angrying me. You know what I mean? Oh! You think a German has no right to give a statement about this ´cause of the “12 years” of ages before in my country but it is a prejudice Germans are monsters, f.y.! when You have this opinion – it would be sad and stupid. It has nothing. NOTHING to do with it. I did instead of my military service the much harder civilian service in a big home for handicapped people. Back to the thema… THE SECOND CHILDREN: From the beginnig it would have been better to prevent it, I mean prevent becoming pregnant and adept a lonely foreign child OR WHAT! Or would YOU live the live of Jule´s sister?? OH! Come on! When You know there is a risk of become a child with this not very harmless syndrome it´s better preventing pregnantess. How ever, sorry for my bad English, yeh?
And the best wishes for the sister, too! She is here now and so she´s got the same rights like her elder sister. Grow up luckily and don´t missunderstand me! I was trying to talk seriously about a serious situation to You U.S. people, didn´t I?
Dave from Berlin, Germany, Europe, Planet Earth, born there in 1973