Kelly O’Connor is a happy 11-year-old girl living in Overland Park, KS who is about to enter 6th grade and loves to dance and play piano. When I met Kelly and her family, circumstances were very different. Kelly was diagnosed with Achondroplasia Dwarfism at three months of age, a condition that causes abnormal cartilage formation and results in a short stature and disproportionate limbs. She enjoyed a generally healthy childhood and seemed to avoid many of the pitfalls that other people with her condition experience until a fateful incident brought the O’Connors and the Renaissance Hollywood together.

One day, while shopping with her mother, Stacy O’Connor, Kelly experienced numbness in her legs that immediately alerted her mother that something was not right. About 50% of people with Achondroplasia will develop spinal cord issues that can lead to paralysis, and while Kelly’s family thought they were in the clear after a battery of tests throughout her life, it turned out that their worst fears were coming true. Doctors at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City immediately saw Kelly and, determined to help her, referred her to specialists at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, a renowned hub for the care and treatment of conditions associated with Dwarfism.