A little boy is suffering from a condition that resulted to him having 12 fingers and 12 toes, according to the Daily Mail.
Ryan Edwards is suffering from Ellis-van Creveld syndrome, a type of bone growth disorder. This condition causes dwarfism, growth of extra fingers and toes, as well as heart conditions. Ryan's mother, Natasha Williams, 26, was informed after a 20-week scan that her son's body would not be able to develop sufficiently to support all of his organs.
Thus, Natasha was advised to consider getting an abortion. "The pregnancy was normal until that point. I felt numb when they told me. When the doctor said I should think about termination, I wasn't surprised - I had a feeling they would raise that as an option."
"We only had a weekend to decide what we wanted to do. But I'd already made up my mind that Ryan deserved a chance. If he was going to pass away, I wanted him to go on his own terms. It didn't seem right to make that decision for him, before he'd had a chance at life. I had a lot of scenarios in my head. There was the worry that once he was born he wouldn't be able to breathe by himself. I was incredibly relieved to hear him cry for the first time." Ellis-van Creveld syndrome is an inherited disorder of bone growth that results in dwarfism. Those suffering from the condition have short arms and legs and a narrow chest. More than half of the babies born with the defect also suffer from life-threatening heart conditions.
