Meet 10-year-old Boy Who Suffers From a Rare Condition That's Turning Him Slowly to Stone (Photos +Video)

 

It is a trying time for a 10-year-old Colarado boy who is slowly turning to stone due to an extremely rare skin condition. Jaiden Rogers is suffering from one of the rarest skin conditions ever. In fact, his case is the 41st case to have ever been reported.

 

His parents noticed some spots on his skin were hardening and now more hardened spots have spread to other areas of his body. This happened three years ago.

 

For years, 10-year-old Jaiden has been seen by several doctors who continue to search for answers. 

 

His father, Tim Rogers, told FOX 31 that Jaiden's leg feels like you're 'tapping on a counter top' or a hard surface.

 

Now, the spots have spread to his legs, back and hips making it difficult for him to walk. In fact, there was a day had to beg his parents to provide wheelchair for him because his legs didn't work. Doctors have determined his condition is stiff skin syndrome.

 

Jaiden's mother, Natalie, told FOX 31 that 'it's kind of outrageous sounding when you say a boy turning to stone'.

 

As Jaiden's symptoms worsen, he continues to live in great pain and to make matters worse, there is no cure for his ailment.

 

 

Dr Elizabeth Swanson with the Children's Hospital in Colorado said that she had 'kind of exhausted the medical library trying to come up with a treatment'.

According to a YouCaring page set up by Josh Niemi, 'Jaiden’s treatment started with rounds of chemotherapy to try to halt the spread of the calcification', Dailymail reports.

 

'He wears a medical mask to prevent infections or viruses he would not be able to fend off due to his weakened immune system,' the website reads. 

The site has raised more than $10,000 to help with medical costs such as a service dog and further treatment options in Europe. 

 

Jaiden's latest round of chemotherapy drugs seems to be slowing the spread for now.

 

Swanson told FOX 31 that once the skin hardens there's no way to reverse it. 

 

However, Swanson hopes her treatment will prevent the spread, which she considers 'a win' for Jaiden and a win for future victims of the disease. 

Jaiden's community has been really supportive throughout the past three years. 

 

His dad, Tim Rogers, said that when they needed a therapy pool for Jaiden's treatment, their community in their hometown of Alamosa, 'raised $8,000 to build us a therapy pool.' 

 

 

 

Stiff skin syndrome is a sclerodermalike disorder that presents in infancy or early childhood with rock-hard skin, limited joint mobility, and mild hypertrichosis in the absence of visceral or muscle involvement, immunologic abnormalities, or vascular hyperreactivity. 

 

Research suggests that the age at onset in some cases ranged from infancy to six years of age. Stony-hard skin was noted mostly on the thighs, buttocks, and lower back with shoulder and arm involvement in two cases.

 

Stiff skin syndrome is characterized by an early, insidious onset of stony-hard skin, often with associated contracture-like joint restriction, hypertrichosis, and postural and thoracic wall abnormalities.

 

Source: JAMA Network 

 

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