A baby who nearly choked to death because of the size of her huge tongue can now breath a sigh of relief after doctors successfully reduced the size of her tongue.
The baby was born with an adult-sized tongue due to a rare genetic condition, Dailymail reports.
Paisley Morrison-Johnson had such a large tongue that she needed help breathing for the first week of her life to stop her from choking to death. She was born with Beckwith Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) – a rare overgrowth disorder affecting around one in every 14,000 births worldwide.
The report further revealed that the rare condition caused her tongue to grow more than twice the size of her mouth, which meant she struggled to feed.
So Paisley, from Aberdeen in South Dakota, had to be fed through a tube in her stomach until she was six month's old.
Parents Madison Kienow, 21, and Shannon Morrison-Johnson, 23, agreed to surgery to slice parts of it away. But her tongue continued to grow back and still hung out of her mouth.
Six months ago, Paisley had her second tongue reduction and has smiled for the first time after having a total of more than six inches of muscle removed.
Paisley, who is 16 months old, is now enunciating the sounds that will allow her to speak her first words.
'Her tongue filled up her whole mouth, it was very thick and protruding out of her mouth,' said Ms Kienow, a medical student. Her parents are so delighted with the latest development.
Doctors believe Paisley will do well as they continue to monitor her after surgery. For more information, visit www.howbigbws.com
Doctors believe Paisley will do well as they continue to monitor her after surgery. For more information, visit www.howbigbws.com