Being born missing part of one of your X chromosomes can be stressful and hard for a young girl, and her parents as well. It comes with many different symptoms and a profusion of medical bills. My sister, Cheyenne, ended up with this disorder. She only has an acute version of it where she is only missing half of one of her X chromosomes. She does, on the other hand, have to suffer from quite a few of the symptoms.

Some of the symptoms can affect the whole body and brain. Growth gets stunted, puberty comes late, infertility, learning disorders, kidney problems, heart problems, thyroid problems, and various other issues that can depend on the person. My sister has to deal with these along with hospital visits and testing, all of this at the age of 10.

She doesn’t let this bother her though. She is strong through it, knowing that she doesn’t have to worry about much. She’s more than willing to adopt if she can’t have kids, she does well over average in school, although, she has to take growth hormones to help her grow, and pills to help balance out her thyroid, she is happy and joyful through everything. She says, “It’s fun being able to miss school so much!” Since it was caught on at such a young age, whilst there isn’t any cure for this, she’s able to fix anything before it gets out of hand or dangerous. She has to make sure to drink plenty of water along with keeping up with her medicine.

I sometimes have to help her with medicine, so she doesn’t forget. Sometimes, I even have to help her with any homework she’s behind on. She does occasionally get mad at me, but that’s because she’s so stressed. She’ll get mad at me for being annoying, as any older brother would, but that’s because she has to worry about other issues.

This disorder isn’t well known and it’s interesting learning what it is and who it can affect. It affects one out of every 2,000- 4,000 female live births, and they get stuck with it for life. They have to go to the doctors regularly and take medicine all the time. They could easily be hurt and hospitalized if they aren’t on top of everything. This disorder is quite serious and people should check on it, and help anyone with it out! I’m sure they would be super grateful for it. February is Turner Syndrome Awareness month, here you can help out, and learn even more about this disorder.