Mother of Girls With Rare Zika Virus Says “They’re Like Any Other Girls Their Age”

A mother whose two daughters suffer from a rare condition linked to the Zika virus has insisted they are just like any other girls their age.

According to DailyMail, Gwen Hartley, 40, from Kansas, says microcephaly, thought to be caused by the Zika epidemic currently sweeping South America, doesn’t have to be a death sentence – despite it causing incomplete brain development as well as a range of health defects.

Her daughter Claire, 14, was diagnosed with microcephaly at three months old, while Lola, now nine, was diagnosed while still in the womb. They weigh just 42lbs (3 stone) between them, cannot walk or talk, and suffer from daily seizures.

The mother-of-three has spoken out in solidarity with other parents of children with the condition, describing how her daughters defied doctors’ predictions that they may not live beyond their first birthdays.

Lola and Claire are often mistaken for babies because of their size caused by microcephaly – the same condition that has been linked to an outbreak of the Zika virus in South America, and has led to the World Health Organisation (WHO) declaring a state of global emergency.

They were determined to give their daughter the best life they could, feeding her a healthy diet to help her grow up strong and develop her brain. And after they threw a huge party for her first birthday to defy doctors’ expectations, Claire thrived – as did her sister Lola, born with same condition five years later.

See photos of the girls below: