by Maya Michel

Created on: April 16, 2009

He was small but didn't look unusual until we saw him mixed in with the kids on the soccer team. They were from between 4 and 6 and everyone thought that he was someone's little brother with his thumb in his mouth, running away from the ball every time it came his way. He had been a normal sized baby, 7lbs 12 ozs and ate lustily. He was a complacent baby, sleeping through the night within the first few weeks. He was a happy baby.

We blamed his small stature on the fact that his parents were both typically average, 5 foot 3 mama and 5 foot 8 papa, and dad remembered that his growth spurt was later than most of his friends. We didn't worry until we saw him on the soccer field. He was one of the older kids.

That year the Principal of the school pulled him out in front of the rest of the school to show how tiny some kids were in comparison to the bus tyres, a road safety lesson. The humiliation that came T's way was enormous. He began to be teased unmercifully. He began to mouth off to bullies but run the other way when pushed.

His sister, three years younger, soon zoomed up on him. I dreaded the day that he realized that she was taller and it came sooner than I had expected. He only grew angrier, mouthier.

There were other medical issues with my boy so we began to see a pediatrician. After about a year of visits we were sent to an Endocrinologist to discern what the growth problem was. We went four times a year for him to be weighed and measured, poked and prodded for two complete years. At the end of that test period we were selected for the Growth Hormone program. We learned to inject him nightly into his soft tummy fat. He was a champion about the nightly needles but when we went for our first weigh-in we were told that it was not yet working.

He did the nightly injections for over three years but when the weigh-ins were unsatisfactory, he was switched to Hormone injections. This went on for over 2 years on a quarterly basis. They also did very little to help. Eventually he was removed from the program as a failure and life went on as usual at home with him being bullied daily at school, his little sister and brother going to bat for him.

My son is an adult now. We've gone through hell to get him where he is. He says that he is 5 foot 6 but I think it's more like 5 foot 4 and I'll never argue the point. We are elated that he is this tall, once upon a time we believed that he would not get past 5 feet. His puberty came in late and he quit school after his final bullying session at the end of tenth grade. He is not particularly healthy, he is chronically anaemic and may suffer from coeliac disease but he's tired of the tests, tired of the specialists, tired of being seen as 'not quite there'.

His heart is big and strong, his compassion is great and touching. His sister and brother tower over him at 5 foot 9 and 6 feet in height but they respect their oldest brother. They've created a tight little circle where they look after one another. My diminutive son has taught us all about working with difficulties and disabilities, patience and tolerance. He still mouths off rather than stands up to an aggressor but he no longer runs away. He does not play soccer any more but he is no less of a man than any other.

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