Meet Caroline...

I want to introduce you to someone. 
This is Caroline. 
She’s amazing. 
She’s sweet and funny. She’s good at ignoring me when she’s trying to finish texting someone. 
She has Pfeiffer syndrome. It’s pretty rare and only happens 1:100,000 kids. 
Pfeiffer syndrome is a disorder where the bones of the head fuse too early and it causes the head and face to look different.
When Caroline was born, her eyes looked like they were bulging and her jaw looked too small for her little face. But after a lot of surgeries, she looks more like you and me. Children with Pfeiffer syndrome can have wider than normal thumbs and big toes and sometimes they have hearing loss. 
In most cases, their intelligence is normal. Caroline's is better than normal...she’s on the A honor roll. 

Caroline is a miracle. 
She has her own team of doctors to help her including every doctor you’ve probably ever heard of: ENT, Ophthalmology, GI, orthopedics, pulmonologists, neurosurgeons, craniofacial surgeons... and me. I’ve had the privilege of taking care of Caroline since she was one week old.

She’s had 32 surgeries so far. That’s amazing, right?
She’s the strongest, most resilient kid that I’ve ever known. 
So we should respect her...admire her.
And not tease her. 
That’s what happened this week. Right in our pediatric office. And it makes me feel really sad…but that kid didn't know Caroline. Because he would never do that if he’d met her. 
So, I want to introduce everyone I know to Caroline. 
If you’re a mom, take this as an opportunity to talk to your children about kids that have to be stronger than the rest of us.