PEOPLE STARE BUT WE DON'T CARE

Born with a rare condition that means she's the height of an eight-year-old, Francesca Papagno, 32, thought she'd never find love

- EIMEAR O'HAGAN

Waking from the general anaesthetic, I saw my partner Paul with our newborn son, swaddled in a blanket. As he placed the baby in my arms and kissed me, I felt total happiness. There was a time when I believed I'd never find a soulmate who'd be able to see past my height. And I'd been told all my life that my body would never be able to safely carry a baby, even if I could manage to get pregnant. Now, though, I had a man who adored me, we had a child together and I knew dreams really could come true.

My parents and brothers are all of 'normal' height, and as a baby there was no indication that I was any different. But after experiencing problems with my hips, tests at two years old revealed I had a rare condition called acromicric dysplasia, which affects the growth and development of bones, and stunts growth. It differs from achondroplasia, also known as dwarfism, because people with that have average-sized torsos and shorter limbs, whereas I'm completely in proportion, albeit only 4ft 1in - the height of an eight-year-old child.

It wasn't until I approached my teens that my height began to impact my sense of identity. Although I was the smallest in the class, it wasn't obvious. But after I moved to secondary school in 2001, everyone else had their growth spurt, but I didn't.

HEALTH ISSUES

I also experienced problems with my joints - my knees would dislocate and my legs got sore and tired. My clothes always had to be adjusted, which was a constant reminder that I wasn't the same as everyone else.