Without My Parent's Help I Would Eat Myself To Death | BORN DIFFERENT

CAMILLE, from Connecticut, lives with a rare genetic condition called Prader-Willi Syndrome, a condition best known for creating an insatiable sense of hunger in the individual. The craving is so strong that if left alone and with access to food, a person with Prader-Willi Syndrome could eat themselves to death. Camille’s father Larry said: “Imagine smashing your thumb with a hammer and telling yourself not to feel any pain, that’s how I think about Camille and hunger.” That means Larry and Camille’s mother Kim must create a completely ‘food secure’ environment, including padlocking kitchen cabinets and having an alarm on the kitchen door to stop Camille foraging for snacks. Larry said: “She is really quick when food is accessible, we have nicknamed her the ‘stealth ninja’, you turn your back for a split second and she’ll put it in her pocket or take it and run to her room.” But despite Camille’s hunger, people with Prader-Willi have low muscle tone and burn calories slowly, meaning she is required to subsist on a diet of 1,000-1,200 calories a day. Larry said: “Prader-Willi syndrome is what Camille lives with, it’s the diagnosis she’s been given, but it certainly does not define her. She is so much more, she’s loving, caring, kind, compassionate, giving, if you have some sort of animal she’ll never forget the story you tell about them or the animal’s name. The more that we can share our story with others, the more that we hope to be able to educate other people and let them know that, yes, it’s going to be difficult, but it’s going to be okay.”