Derek is 7 years old. He is friendly and he is always in a good mood. However, he is defiant and challenging. Besides, he is hyperactive and energetic.

 

On the other hand, he doesn’t give up easily and he is fighter against adversity.

 

We have learned with time, that when a child has a rare illness, the specialist doctors aren’t always right with their diagnosis, because Derek has gotten more landmarks than those diagnosed by them.

 

Derek attends a public school in which he has some hours with specialists.

 

I must give a special thanks to Dr. F. Aleixandre and physiotherapist Marta Alonso for his persistence and perseverance to improve Derek’s quality of life.

 

Derek’s medical diagnoses are:

 

At nine months.

–   “Maduropatía Global del Desarrollo”. – Global delay

–   “Rasgos Dismorficos Faciales”. – dismorphic facies

–   “Hipertelodismo”. – hypertelorism

 

At three years.

–   Expressive language disorder and understanding language disorder.

–   IQ 68.

 

At four years.

–   The molecular diagnosis of 2q22.2q23.1 duplication

 

I as mother, I initially noticed that Derek:

–   He didn’t sleep and he always cried.

–   He didn’t suck well. It was costly, because he did not feed normally.

–   He had his hands shut and overall tight hands.

–   He did not talk.

–   He was always sitting irregularly.

 

I want to thank my family and my friends for their support and help.

 

-Derek’s Mom