.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Another Baby Born With 12 Functioning Fingers, 12 Toes
A Daly City California couple is beaming after becoming the proud parents of a healthy but incredibly rare baby boy this month.
Baby Kamani Hubbard has six-fully formed and functional fingers and toes on his hands and feet. It's called "polydactyly" -- extra digits -- not an uncommon genetic trait, but Bay Area doctors say they've never seen a case so remarkable.
Born at San Francisco's Saint Luke's Hospital three weeks ago, Hubbarb seemed so perfect at birth no one noticed.
"Nurses and doctors, looked so normal they couldn't tell, they told me he was six pounds in good health, that was all they said," said Miryoki Gross, Hubbard’s mother.
But his dad Kris Hubbard noticed this spectacularly rare case of polydactyly: 6-perfect fingers on each hand and 6-perfect toes on each foot, which went well beyond a general trait that runs in his family.
"Some family member have had six fingers, not completely developed. But not the toes," said Kris Hubbard, 34 and a postal worker.
In fact Kris Hubbard himself had nubs of sixth fingers removed as a child as these non-functional digits routinely are.
But Hubbards case is so vanishingly rare according to doctors, and because the extra digits are functional, it's not a deformity to be discarded.
"It's merely an interesting and beautiful variation rather than a worrisome thing," said Dr. Michael Treece and St. Luke's Hospital Pediatrician. "I would be tempted to leave those fingers in place. I realize children would tease each other over the slightest things, and having extra digits on each hand is more than slight. But imagine what sort of a pianist a 12-fingered person would be imagine what sort of a flamenco guitarist, if nothing else think of their typing skills."
Kamani's mother says she hasn't had time to absorb this; her baby's specialness didn't even show up on prenatal ultrasounds.
" I heard nothing before I gave birth so I'm still in shock, kinda," said Gross.
"I just want him to see what greatness will be in store for him," said Kris Hubbard.
The Florida Marlins’s pitcher Antonio Alfonseca, blues guitarist Hound Dog Taylor and several remarkable figures in history have had polydactyly.
This little guy may, at the very least, help others grasp the importance of embracing difference.
.
Baby Kamani Hubbard has six-fully formed and functional fingers and toes on his hands and feet. It's called "polydactyly" -- extra digits -- not an uncommon genetic trait, but Bay Area doctors say they've never seen a case so remarkable.
Born at San Francisco's Saint Luke's Hospital three weeks ago, Hubbarb seemed so perfect at birth no one noticed.
"Nurses and doctors, looked so normal they couldn't tell, they told me he was six pounds in good health, that was all they said," said Miryoki Gross, Hubbard’s mother.
But his dad Kris Hubbard noticed this spectacularly rare case of polydactyly: 6-perfect fingers on each hand and 6-perfect toes on each foot, which went well beyond a general trait that runs in his family.
"Some family member have had six fingers, not completely developed. But not the toes," said Kris Hubbard, 34 and a postal worker.
In fact Kris Hubbard himself had nubs of sixth fingers removed as a child as these non-functional digits routinely are.
But Hubbards case is so vanishingly rare according to doctors, and because the extra digits are functional, it's not a deformity to be discarded.
"It's merely an interesting and beautiful variation rather than a worrisome thing," said Dr. Michael Treece and St. Luke's Hospital Pediatrician. "I would be tempted to leave those fingers in place. I realize children would tease each other over the slightest things, and having extra digits on each hand is more than slight. But imagine what sort of a pianist a 12-fingered person would be imagine what sort of a flamenco guitarist, if nothing else think of their typing skills."
Kamani's mother says she hasn't had time to absorb this; her baby's specialness didn't even show up on prenatal ultrasounds.
" I heard nothing before I gave birth so I'm still in shock, kinda," said Gross.
"I just want him to see what greatness will be in store for him," said Kris Hubbard.
The Florida Marlins’s pitcher Antonio Alfonseca, blues guitarist Hound Dog Taylor and several remarkable figures in history have had polydactyly.
This little guy may, at the very least, help others grasp the importance of embracing difference.
.
Child Born With 12 Fingers and 12 Toes
.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
News Pictures of 2008
Feb. 4, 2008: U.S. Army Staff Sgt. William Lambert, 30, from Plainview, Ark. shares his rations with an Iraqi boy in Beijia village in Arab Jabour, south of Baghdad, Iraq.
Aug. 3, 2008: U.S. Army Capt. Charles Ford plays a video game with seven-year-old Wa'ad, who lost an arm and a leg to an improvised bomb, during a visit to the child's home near Muqdadiyah, about 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad in Iraq's volatile Diyala province.
A Pug puppy is held by an animal rights activist during a press conference on illegal puppy trafficking, in Rome, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008.
March 2, 2008: Three-month-old African lion cub Chibi lays on a box at Safari Zoo in Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia.
March 2, 2008: One of Tim Osmar's sled dogs looks out of its pen before the start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Willow, Alaska.
A four-month-old puppy called "Machu Picchu" is seen in Lima, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2008. The owners of the animal, a Peruvian Hairless Dog, have offered it to U.S. President-elect Barack Obama. Obama has promised his daughters a new pet for the White House but one of them is allergic to most breeds. The owners of the Peruvian Hairless Dog say it is perfect for kids who are sensitive to dogs.
May 24, 2008: Belarusian Tatiana Litvinchuk holds her cat at an international cat exhibition in Minsk, Belarus.
July 10, 2008: A polar bear stands on a ice flow in Baffin Bay above the arctic circle as seen from the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Louis S. St-Laurent. The Louis S. St-Laurent is on its annual voyage through Canada's Arctic that includes patrols through the Northwest Passage. In addition to serving the people of Canada's North the ship is carrying a team of scientists studying climate change and the health of Canada's three oceans.
July 10, 2008: The Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Louis S. St-Laurent makes its way through the ice in Baffin Bay,. The Louis S. St-Laurent is on its annual voyage through Canada's Arctic that includes patrols through the Northwest Passage. In addition to serving the people of Canada's North the ship is carrying a team of scientists studying climate change and the health of Canada's three oceans..
Take the $20G, Keep Your Stuff
Facing snowballing medical expenses for their two young disabled children, Gregg and Brittiny Peters quipped they might need to sell everything they owned to stay solvent. As the bills tipped $10,000, however, the idea was no longer funny.
So on Thursday, the Georgia couple accepted a winning $20,000 eBay bid for all their belongings minus their house. It came with one catch. The winning bidders, Donnia and Keith Blair of Texas, want the family to have the money, but keep their stuff.
Seems like the perfect happy ending, except the Peters don't want the money. They say the whole idea was to start over, not take a handout.
The decision is out of their hands, the Blairs say.
"They've worked really hard to get those things and we're in a position to help them," Donnia Blair told The Associated Press Friday. "She can just act like they're my storage facility."
The Peters' lives and finances changed dramatically last April, when their 2-year-old son Noah was diagnosed with autism and with sensory and gastrointestinal disorders. Then in the summer, doctors diagnosed their 7-year-old daughter Ayla with juvenile arthritis. They also have a 1-year-old son, Eli.
Special treatment for the two older children costs about $2,000 a month and the Peters are carrying a $1,400 mortgage on their house in a suburban area about an hour north of Atlanta, said Brittiny Peters, a stay-at-home mom whose husband runs a tennis academy for middle and high school students.
They soon began keeping a list of what they could give away — a jogging stroller here, a dining table there.
"Then it kind of hit us both, let's just sell it all," she said, explaining the couple figured "we will buy these things again some day."
They listed approximately $40,000 worth of items on the popular online auction, from DVDs and leather coats, to the king-sized bed where the family had Saturday morning pillow fights, according to a Web site set up by well-wishers trying to help the couple.
The Peters spent Friday morning trying to persuade the Texas family to accept their belongings, which include a 2000 Chevrolet Tahoe. They even tried to retract the couple's bid.
"They are apparently not willing to take our stuff," Brittiny Peters said. "They're purchasing them to give them back to us."
Now they aren't sure what their next step is.
They are also trying to figure out what to do with money raised on the Web site, www.everythingweown.org. They didn't ask for the money and their efforts to return donations have upset some people, Brittiny Peters said.
The Peters are perfectly willing to stick by the bargain. But the Blairs — who wouldn't give details on how they can afford to give away $20,000 — won't budge.
"We've really been blessed the last few years and we saw an opportunity to help," Donnia Blair said.
.
So on Thursday, the Georgia couple accepted a winning $20,000 eBay bid for all their belongings minus their house. It came with one catch. The winning bidders, Donnia and Keith Blair of Texas, want the family to have the money, but keep their stuff.
Seems like the perfect happy ending, except the Peters don't want the money. They say the whole idea was to start over, not take a handout.
The decision is out of their hands, the Blairs say.
"They've worked really hard to get those things and we're in a position to help them," Donnia Blair told The Associated Press Friday. "She can just act like they're my storage facility."
The Peters' lives and finances changed dramatically last April, when their 2-year-old son Noah was diagnosed with autism and with sensory and gastrointestinal disorders. Then in the summer, doctors diagnosed their 7-year-old daughter Ayla with juvenile arthritis. They also have a 1-year-old son, Eli.
Special treatment for the two older children costs about $2,000 a month and the Peters are carrying a $1,400 mortgage on their house in a suburban area about an hour north of Atlanta, said Brittiny Peters, a stay-at-home mom whose husband runs a tennis academy for middle and high school students.
They soon began keeping a list of what they could give away — a jogging stroller here, a dining table there.
"Then it kind of hit us both, let's just sell it all," she said, explaining the couple figured "we will buy these things again some day."
They listed approximately $40,000 worth of items on the popular online auction, from DVDs and leather coats, to the king-sized bed where the family had Saturday morning pillow fights, according to a Web site set up by well-wishers trying to help the couple.
The Peters spent Friday morning trying to persuade the Texas family to accept their belongings, which include a 2000 Chevrolet Tahoe. They even tried to retract the couple's bid.
"They are apparently not willing to take our stuff," Brittiny Peters said. "They're purchasing them to give them back to us."
Now they aren't sure what their next step is.
They are also trying to figure out what to do with money raised on the Web site, www.everythingweown.org. They didn't ask for the money and their efforts to return donations have upset some people, Brittiny Peters said.
The Peters are perfectly willing to stick by the bargain. But the Blairs — who wouldn't give details on how they can afford to give away $20,000 — won't budge.
"We've really been blessed the last few years and we saw an opportunity to help," Donnia Blair said.
.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
