Baby born with adult’s tongue can finally smile after life-changing operation
Most parents wait just weeks to see their baby’s first smile, some even months.
But one couple were left waiting more than a year after their daughter Paisley Morrison-Johnson was born with an adult-sized tongue, meaning she couldn’t eat or even breathe unaided.
Paisley Morrison-Johnson, from South Dakota, had such a large tongue that doctors feared it would block her airway.
The tot was born with Beckwith Wiedemann Syndrome (BWS) – an overgrowth disorder that affects one in every 11,000 births worldwide.
Shocked doctors, who said it was one of the largest tongues they had ever seen, had to fit a gastronomy-tube to feed Paisley until she was six-months-old.
At 6 months old, she had two inches clipped off her tongue, but it didn’t seem to make things much better.
However in April, Paisley, who is now 16-months-old had her second tongue reduction and has since smiled for the first time – after having a total of more than six inches of muscle removed.
Mum Madison Kienow, 21, said: ‘Her tongue filled up her whole mouth, it was very thick and protruding out of her mouth. It looked she had an adult’s size tongue inside the mouth of a baby.
“Since recovering, she
smiled for the very first time,” Madison said. “I couldn’t believe it and was shocked by how beautiful my little girl looked.”
And Paisley’s well on her way to saying her first words.
The tot will be monitored every three months, until she turns eight — when the chances of her developing any cancerous tumors triggered by the syndrome drop dramatically, doctors said.
Source:metro.co.uk, thesun.co.uk, nypost.com
