A man born without thighs due to a rare medical condition has found love with a woman over a foot taller than him.
Thirty-four-year-old Nathan Hrdlicka - who is 4ft 6in tall - has found himself forming a strong relationship with 19-year-old Chelsee Stuart after the couple met via Facebook.
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WATCH NATHAN'S STORY
Although Chelsea was initially concerned as to how she would handle their height difference, the pair fell in love and are now a tight unit.
"I don't see myself as different," said Nathan, who lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. "When people come up to me that's the first thing they are seeing is my disability.
"My disability is something that doesn't define me."
Nathan is one of just 25 people in the world born with proximal femoral focal deficiency (PFFD) type D - meaning his knee bones are directly beneath his hips.
Incredibly, Nathan is believed to be the only person with the condition who has been able to learn to walk, although doing so still causes him pain.
Nathan - who doctors said would have grown to be over 6ft 4in without his condition - has said that his PFFD also brings him a lot of comments, ranging from the curious to the ignorant.
"Some of the comments I get are people calling me a midget a lot, which is an uneducated thing," he said. "They also pick at the height thing."
He and Chelsee first met on a healing page on Facebook before the pair hit off - despite Chelsee initially being unsure that it would work out.
She says she has learnt to accept him for his stature - and gets involved in more physical activities like hiking with other friends.
"When we first met I did think the height difference was going to be a sort of problem because this was my first time really being with someone that shorter than me," Chelsee said.
"It took us a lot of time to really learn what works and what doesn't work but eventually now everything works."
The pair are clearly smitten, as Nathan said: "Chelsee supports [me] emotionally as a friend in a way that I never had in my life."
The couple have already started a jewellery business and hope to eventually open a 'healing centre' in Iceland selling holistic medicine.
"I just really want to be able to help people," said Nathan, who sounds like a bit of a hero. "I want to be able to use my experiences and story to help people get through the hard times that they are having so that they can heal."
Nathan sounds like a fantastic, positive guy. If you want to donate to Nathan's GoFundMe page, with funds going towards his ongoing medical costs, click here.
Featured Image Credit: BarcroftTopics: Dating, Love, Feels, Community, Disability