23-year-old woman who is the height of an eight-year-old explains how she came to live with unique condition
A 23-year-old woman who is the height of an eight-year-old has explained how she came to live with the condition.
Shauna Rae is the star of the reality TV series, I Am Shauna Rae where she shares her day-to-day life with viewers.
Shauna - who is 3ft 10 and weighs 50lb - has previously been described as being a 'woman stuck in an eight-year-old's body'.
However, the TV star has explained why she doesn't like that phrasing, telling her followers on TikTok: "I know that 'the woman stuck in the body of an eight-year-old is the catchphrase that's attached to me, but I don't personally connect with it.
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"I think it's actually very inaccurate. I am not stuck in the body of an eight-year-old, I am a 23-year-old woman whose body is 23 years old.
"It's matured, it's gone through puberty, like I've grown in areas that eight year olds don't until they hit puberty which is later in life, so therefore I'm not in the body of an eight-year-old, I am just a shorter statured woman.
"My body is my body, it's a 23-year-old body and it works just like every other 23-year-old body."
Shauna was diagnosed with brain cancer when she was six months old, the treatment for which affected her growth.
It damaged her pituitary gland, which caused her to developed pituitary dwarfism.
Speaking to TLC, Shauna explained: "When I was six months old, my mum noticed a lump on the back of my head. Doctors said it was a tumour, a very aggressive, cancerous tumour.
"I went into immediate surgery and after the surgery I had chemo for two to three years.
"I was deemed cancer free. I was around five and noticed that every kid was significantly taller than me.
"That's when they took me back to children's hospital and learned that my pituitary gland was very close to dormant. All of my hormones, my growth hormone, sweat glands... produces much slower."
Since starring in her own TV show, Shauna has shared much of her life with her fans, educating them on the condition she suffers from and breaking down any myths associated with pituitary dwarfism.
She also discusses her dating life and how she manages to spot those 'who may not have the best intentions'.
“I’ve just developed the ability to spot someone who may not have the best intentions because they give themselves away,” she told the New York Post.
“Their questions are very targeted towards my physicality.
"They’re learning about me like I’m a specimen in a lab.”
She also opened up about some of her daily struggles, adding: “I’ve had multiple issues with people not believing me when I told them my age.
“One thing that happened recently was I went to a [lab] to get my blood taken.
“I was trying to leave, but some employee wouldn’t allow me to, because they thought I was a child leaving without a parent.
“They all denied the fact that I was an adult, and they would not let me leave the property without an adult to take me home.
“It got to the point where I had to leave when they weren’t looking. It was so extreme.”
Lucy Devine