The revelation

It began as a routine visit to the pediatric clinic. Sarah and her mother, Jane, were met by a tall woman with peppered, cropped hair and a slightly hooked nose. The familiar face belonged to Dr. Shelly Strong, Sarah’s life-long pediatrician. They sat across from Dr. Strong in a small examination room used for routine check ups as Jane expressed her concern about Sarah’s seemingly delayed puberty.

“It’s normal for kids not to be following all of the trends and to sometimes be in the lower percentiles,” Dr. Strong assured the two. It was definitely noticeable that Sarah was on the smaller side of the kids her age. She had heard her share of short jokes from her peers that were already in the five foot range. However, it was evident that Sarah’s growth was anything but normal. While her growth chart should be indicating more and more growth, it instead was already beginning to plateau like that of a 16 year old finishing puberty.

Dr. Strong walked the pair down the hall to the blood drawing station where Sarah sat down and offered her arm to the nurse. With a slight pinch, the shining needle entered her arm. It would be the first of many in the weeks to come. It drew out a vile of the red liquid that Dr. Strong thought would reveal the truth to the mystery behind Sarah’s unusual growth. The test results they got back added even more pieces to the puzzle, and it was clear that the whole picture could not be pieced together with blood tests alone.

“After reading the test results, the doctors told us to do follow up tests because they couldn’t tell directly how severe it was. But at the time, we didn’t even know what ‘it’ was,” Sarah, now 18, explained. “It was at that point that they referred us to the gastroenterologist.”