In a bizarre tale of loving parents who are seemingly stretching the boundaries of ethics to keep their disabled daughter small through a series of surgeries and hormonal therapy; captures the innocence of a 9 year old, brain damaged girl, both mentally and physically. She will live out the rest of her days with her current small body, through stunted growth procedures and drugs. Her parents will never have to wonder if she can just stay little forever, doctors are intervening to make sure she will.

As much as my first reaction was disgust and shock, after the following article from The Guardian Unlimited, I am left wondering — how many parents love as much as these parents love? Perhaps we should all be so lucky to have parents that are realistic in their expectations and choose a highly controversial and emotional road instead of an easy one. Who am I to judge as I do not have my own “Pillow-Angel”. Perhaps, somewhere between what they think is best for Ashley, and their desire to never let go of her infant-like qualities, they are setting the stage for a healthy relationship which supports and facilitates the desire to constantly meet the needs of the high demands of a baby turned brain damaged child.

They claim it is all for Ashley’s sake, and perhaps it is:

The cause of the controversy is the “Ashley Treatment” - a course of surgery and hormone supplements devised for her at her parents’ request and with the blessing of doctors - that will for ever keep her small. It involves surgical operations, including a hysterectomy, and hormone prescriptions that will, in effect, freeze-frame her body at its current size.

Although she has a normal life expectancy, she will, physically, always be nine years old. Her growth has been suspended at 4ft 5in (1.3 metres), rather than the 5ft 6in she would probably otherwise have become. Her weight will stick at around 75lb (34kg) rather than 125lb.

This week Ashley’s parents, who have chosen to remain anonymous and have only let it be known that they are “college-educated professionals” living in Washington state, have posted on the internet a lengthy explanation of their desire to stunt her growth. It is the first time they have given a public account of their actions. The explanation is accompanied by a gallery of photographs showing Ashley over the years, from her as a smiling baby a few months old, through to today when she is seen nestled in a sheepskin rug.

She was diagnosed, they explain, with brain damage with unknown causes just after birth and has remained at the same developmental level since about three months. Three years ago she began to show early signs of puberty, and they grew anxious about the impact of fertility and of her rapidly increasing size and weight on the quality of her life. Read the rest…

From The Guardian, Picture of Ashley age 9

Read Ashley’s parents Blog and see pictures of Ashley from birth until now…