Community · Families
Audra's Story
School Age
“She was found weighing three pounds at a hospital gate. Now she walks independently and competes in the Special Olympics.”
Audra's journey began in a Chinese orphanage, where she had been found at a hospital gate weighing just three pounds. She was adopted at five and a half years old, arriving in her new family with a constellation of complex medical needs: hearing loss, kidney issues, intestinal malrotation, immunodeficiency requiring IVIG, pancreatic insufficiency, and G-tube dependence.
In March 2017, clinicians at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) made the connection — Audra received one of the earliest ZTTK diagnoses in the world. Finally, her family had a name for the thread connecting all of her conditions.
Today, Audra walks independently and communicates in her own way. She is a proud Special Olympics participant, proving that with the right support and a family that believes in her, there is no limit to what she can achieve.
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