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Manpreet Singh was born in 1995 as a perfect and healthy baby boy, but a year later, before Manpreet could talk or walk, he suddenly stopped growing.
Doctors initially told his father, Jagtar Singh, a small-time farmer, that Manpreet would start growing again. MK Bhadu, a medical officer, explained that “the patient’s growth stopped due to some hormonal imbalance.”
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“A child begins to develop mentally and physically from the age of three. If his body is not developing, the parents should take him to a better medical facility and get him treated,” added Bhadu.
The family doesn’t know why Manpreet stopped growing as he has an older brother and sister who have grown up without any health issues. Manpreet eventually moved to live with his aunt and uncle when his parents were no longer able to take care of him.
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He needs 24-hour care just like a toddler, and is carried everywhere by his aunt. Primarily communicating through gestures, Manpreet is only able to laugh, scream and cry. According to his uncle, Manpreet giggles like a toddler and seldom gets sad unless dogs or other animals scare him.
“He is a delightful child and gestures the guests with his hands to sit and tries to befriend them. We love this little bundle of joy so much that the idea of letting him go makes my heart sink,” his aunt said when speaking of Manpreet.
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Now that Manpreet is 23 years old, his family is worried about his health in the future. They have been consulting a number of doctors, who told them that a proper medical investigation of his condition is required before they can give Manpreet a proper diagnosis.
The cost of the investigation and preliminary treatment would set Manpreet’s family back by about 500,000 rupees (RM29,500). To raise funds for his treatment, a crowd-funding campaign was started on Ketto, India’s version of GoFundMe.
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Scientists believe that Manpreet could have Laron Syndrome, a rare genetic condition that’s believed to have affected just 300 people around the world. A third of people afflicted with this condition live in remote villages in Ecuador’s southern Loja province.
People with Laron lack a hormone called Insulin-like Growth Factor 1, or IGF-1, which stimulates the body’s cells to grow and divide to form new cells.
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You may visit Manpreet’s crowdfunding page here.
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