Prader?Willi syndrome

Wipz

anyone familiar with this disease? I had no idea until one of my co-workers lost her son to it the other week.  They buried him last weekend, the day before his 9th birthday...

Even though it's classed as rare  there were a tonne of messages from parents with PWS kids who left messages of condolence on an online memorial book for him. 

Not trying to bum anyone out, just figured if you didn't know anything about this either it never hurts to learn something new... or remember that your problems could be a lot worse. 

It also serves as a reminder not to judge an overweight kid because it might not just be laziness or bad diet... and I'm sure we are all guilty of judging other parents/people now and then.

Zimger

Yes, a close friend of mine had a family member who was diagnosed with Prader-Willi. He passed away shortly after his 18th birthday.

I also had some experience with a child who was diagnosed when I worked in a group home.

It is more on the rare side but the world is a big place so I can see how there would be many people who would have at least some experience with it. I'm sorry for your co-workers loss. No one should lose their baby.

krispy83

I'm not extremely familiar with it but I had a friend in college whose younger sister has it.  That was the first time I'd ever heard of it.  We talked about it at some length and it does seem pretty rare.

I'm so sorry about your coworker's loss, how devastating.

Martona

About 1 in 15,000 worldwide. For more information go to pwsausa.org