Born Different

INSPIRING young woman born with a facial tumour making it hard to speak is beating the bullies on YouTube - by singing. Many talented performers turn to Youtube to express themselves, but among the Adele covers and earnest acoustic versions of indie classics, Courtney Blackmore cuts a unique figure. Born with cystic hygroma - an extremely rare condition that causes growths in the chin and neck - the 20-year-old sends a message of defiance to bullies every time she hits ‘upload'. Courtney, who lives in Sonora, California had to have years of speech and language therapy as her tumour is so large that it prevents her from closing her mouth. Yet despite this, Courtney has a pitch-perfect singing voice and has amassed a legion of fans online because of her beautiful voice.

TOWERING over his teammates at 7ft 1in tall, 17-year-old Brave Williams is hoping his height can help propel him to sporting stardom. The 400lb man mountain, a senior at Lake Shore High School in Angola, New York, is already a highly-regarded member of his high school basketball and American football teams. Brave's growth spurt started early - he was 5ft 3in tall by age five and had reached 6ft 5in by his tenth birthday. Praised by friends and family as a gentle giant, the gigantic teen now lives on the Cattaraugus Reservation in the Seneca Nation of Indians and is looking to catch the eye of scouts and win an athletic scholarship.

A young woman who was born without a vagina is speaking out about her condition – and is now hoping to become a mother. Devan Merck was devastated after finding out she had no vagina when she was just 12-years-old. The 23-year-old was diagnosed with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome meaning she had no vaginal canal, a malformed uterus and no cervix. Surgeons created a ‘man-made' vagina using skin taken from her bottom - allowing her to have sex and lead a normal life. And now Devan and her husband Trent, from Georgia, USA, are hoping to start a family with the help of a surrogate.

A SIX-YEAR-OLD Indian boy is worshiped by locals who believe he is the reincarnation of the Hindu god Ganesha. Pranshu, from Jalandhar in the Indian state of Punjab, was born with a mystery medical condition that has left him with a swollen forehead and deep set, narrow eyes. Although he is unable to walk, villagers believe Pranshu is a divine child and have nicknamed him 'Lord Ganesha' - flocking to see him outside the nearby mosque.

A RARE genetic disorder has caused a child's leg to swell to four times its normal size. Three-year-old Akshaj Khandelwal from Dwarka in Delhi has been diagnosed with Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome (KTS), a rare condition that has caused excessive growth on the right side of his body. The three symptoms associated with the syndrome, which affects one or two in 100,000 people, are port wine stains, large varicose veins and hypertrophy (extra growth) of one limb.

When expectant mother Caitlin Veitz attended a routine 20 week ultrasound, she and her husband Brian were expecting to find out if their baby was a boy or a girl. But instead they were given some shocking news – their baby daughter's little heart was growing outside of her chest. Their baby girl had a rare congenital heart defect (CHD), ectopia cordis, that affects only one in every 100,000 babies. Although CHDs are the most common birth defect of all, occurring in nine in every 1,000 births, ectopic cordis is the rarest form and is lethal - 95 per cent of babies with ectopic cordis die within a week of being born and 90 per cent pass away within three days.

AN Indian teenager has found a unique way to showcase his superhuman strength – by pulling two cars with his shoulder blades. Abhishek Choubey, 18 pulled the two cars with a rope tied to a wooden block that he held in place between his scapula. The teenager from Sagar, Madhya Pradesh in central India claims to be the only boy who can pull two cars with his shoulder blades, and performed his latest stunt hoping to establish a world record.

A towering woman who was dubbed ‘Godzilla' by bullies is having the last laugh after making it big as a model and artist. Statuesque Aly Stosz turns heads wherever she goes – and at 6ft 9 inches tall she is impossible to miss. The 27-year-old – who has size 14 feet - dwarfed all of her friends throughout school and by the time she was 12-years-old she measured an impressive 6"3. Now Aly, a former model, embraces her goddess-like stature.