Most parents would be delighted to see their toddler grow up with a permanent smile on his face.
But for Gale and Craig Eland, their son Elliot’s ever-cheery demeanour is a painful reminder of the struggle that growing up will be for him.
The two-year-old, from Preston, Lancashire UK, was born with Angelman syndrome – a chromosome disorder which causes severe learning difficulties.
And the rare neurological condition has a side effect that means suffers tend to be easily excited and are left almost permanently laughing or smiling.
The condition is so rare that fewer than 1,000 cases have been reported in the UK.
Elliot’s mother, Gale, said: ‘When we feel down, Elliot’s laughter keeps us all going. You just have to look at him and his happiness takes over.
‘At the end of the day when you have children you just want them to be happy, and Elliot always is.’
She added: ‘The only problem is if Elliot and his big brother, Alex, are playing and Alex accidentally gets hurt. Alex will be crying, but Elliot just laughs and he doesn’t understand why. That can hurt as we don’t want Alex to think Elliot is happy about hurting him.’
Mrs Eland, 41, and her husband Craig, 34, only discovered Elliot’s condition when he was having trouble feeding as a baby.
She said: ‘I didn’t think Elliot had a major issue, he just seemed to have feeding issues – even the doctors and midwives didn’t seem too concerned to begin with.
‘On his six week health check the doctor felt he looked scrawny, and referred him to Royal Preston Hospital, where he was seen by a consultant paediatrican who admitted him immediately.
‘During his time in hospital he had countless blood tests, MRI scans and X-rays. His paediatrician luckily had seen Angelman Syndrome once before and had his blood tested for it.
‘It was only when we were told that he needed to have these genetic tests that I became wary.
‘It was a total shock when the tests came back positive and we were told that he had Angelman – I’d never heard of it before.
Medics encouraged Gale and Craig to research the condition online. Mrs Eland said: ‘We were driving home in the car and my husband was looking up Angelman syndrome on his phone.
‘He started reading all these things off the computer and in the end I was sobbing so much I had to pull over the car.
‘It was so hard to begin with because we knew so little about it. It was only thanks to charities and support groups that we were able to cope.’
Elliot’s parents say they see him smiling as a happy side effect of an otherwise difficult condition.
Mrs Eland said: ‘We always just thought he was a really happy baby, we never even considered it would be a symptom of something more serious.
‘I don’t understand why Elliot always laughs and smiles, but he always has a lovely big smile on his face.
‘Sometimes I don’t even think it’s a result of the Angelman syndrome – he doesn’t have a care in the world, so why wouldn’t he be happy?’
UK Mai
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