Born Different

A 26-YEAR-OLD woman with a rare condition that makes her look decades older is challenging beauty standards by becoming a model. Hoping to break into the modelling industry, Sara Geurts from Minneapolis, Minnesota, is determined to carve out a successful modelling career despite battling with Dermatosparaxis Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) - a genetic condition that leaves her with excessively saggy skin.

A THREE-YEAR-OLD girl has a rare condition which means she can survive on an hour of sleep a night. Exhausted parents Robin Audette and Kirk Hisko are lucky to get between four to six hours sleep a night, but their energetic daughter Ever can survive on as little as an hour and a half – and even been known to sleep at 20 minute intervals throughout a whole night. The reason for Ever's sporadic sleeping patterns? Angelman syndrome: a genetic and neurological disorder, which occurs in approximately 12-20,000 people.

A three-year-old boy remains upbeat despite battling an extremely rare condition that has made the right side of his face heavily swollen. Victor Padilla was born with CLOVES Syndrome – an overgrowth illness that causes complex vascular anomalies leading to the formation of tumours on the body. CLOVES, which in Victor's case stands for Congenital Lipomatous Overgrowth with Vascular Anomalies, is said to have only been diagnosed in a couple of hundred people worldwide. But despite the terrible nature of Victor's condition, his parents Jennifer and Jerry Padilla have sent him to pre-school in Rochester, New York, and could not be happier with the progress he is making.

A MORBIDLY obese baby has baffled doctors - by weighing in at a whopping 38lbs. Eight-month-old Chahat Kumar from Punjab, India was born an average weight but started ballooning in size at the age of four months. And now the bouncing baby weighs in at 2.7 stones - the same as an average four-year-old.

Fashionista Michaela Davert has a rare condition that means she can break a bone as easily as a piece of chalk. The 18-year-old, who measures 2ft 6ins in height, has broken over 90 bones in her body and was isolated at school. But now trendy Michaela, from Michigan, USA, inspires her 30,000 YouTube subscribers with beauty and fashion vlogs and inspires other girls to do away with traditional beauty standards and embrace their differences.

THE first model with Down Syndrome to front a beauty campaign is hoping to shake up the industry and prove that "beauty belongs to everybody." Katie Meade is the first to admit that people with Down Syndrome, as well as other disabilities, are largely absent from the beauty and fashion industries - and she's determined to change it. The 33-year-old made history last year when she became the first ever model with Down Syndrome to be the face of a beauty brand and her career - both as a model and as an ambassador for people with learning disabilities - continues to grow. Growing up, Katie loved putting on different outfits and playing with lipstick, and had always dreamt of becoming a model but it wasn't something she believed would ever happen to her. Now that it has, Katie is passionate about encouraging other people – whether they have a disability or not – to consider themselves worthy of a place in the beauty and fashion industry.

A GIANT schoolboy is towering over his classmates and teachers – measuring a whopping 6ft 6in at the age of EIGHT. Karan Singh, from Meerut in India, believes he is the world's tallest eight-year-old and comes from a towering family - his dad Sanjay is also 6ft 6in and mum Shweatlana is an incredible 7ft 2in.

MUM-OF-FOUR Rachael Reynolds spends each morning getting her children ready for the day ahead, but her severe skin condition leaves her brimming with anxiety each time she leaves the house to do the school run. Rachael, 41, from Huddersfield, has neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a genetic disorder which leaves her with large bubble-like lesions all over her face, neck, arms, back, tummy and legs. The stay-at-home mum, who inherited the condition from her father, is regularly subjected to cruel taunts on the street as a result of her condition. However, Rachael is determined not to let neurofibromatosis beat her, and has set up a Facebook group, Neurofibromatosis Our World, to enable patients and their families to connect and talk about the condition, and to challenge the stigma faced by sufferers.

Lindsay Hilton is a badass CrossFit extraordinaire and a full contact rugby player - she also happens to have been born without limbs. The 31-year-old from Halifax, Nova Scotia has never let a lack of arms and legs hold her back from achieving her sporting dreams. As a child she learnt to ski, swim and play rugby, which she continues to play to this day. But a few years ago Lindsay started training at her local gym, discovered CrossFit and set her heart on a new sport to test her limits with.

An Indian man has become a local celebrity – because he's 50 years old and only 29 inches tall. Basori Lal, from Madhya Pradesh in India, has become a hero in his village and is regularly visited by curious travellers from the surrounding area. Basori was born an average height but his family noticed he stopped growing at the age of five.