Emily Dover, 5, who developed breasts buds aged two, saw her period at four and now being forced to go through menopause-as well as the same, often distressing, side effects that older women experience, reportedly developed strong body odour and cystic acne – to her parents’ shock, and has also grown hair on her forehead, back and vagina.
Her mum, Tam Dover, told Mirror Online her beautiful daughter is body conscious, aware that she is different to other children her age, but can’t understand why. Recalling the moment Emily started menstruating, Tam, 41, said:
“Because she has trouble toileting, she thought she had done a poo in her undies. “We used panty liners and it didn’t last more than a day.” She added: “She only had her period again the other day”. “She hasn’t even had a chance to be a little girl. “She’s having to learn how to put panty liners on for menstruating.” When the youngster gets her period, she walks over to her devoted mum and dad, Matt, 40, and tells them that her “foo foo is bleeding”. “It’s difficult to explain to her what is happening,” said Tam. “She knows she’s different, she knows she’s much bigger than other children.
She added that she and her husband know that how they react is “how Emily will react” – so they make sure they respond to situations carefully. “I don’t want her to fear what is happening,” said the mum.
Emily, who weighs around seven stone, born perfect “in every way”, a happy baby and was also smaller than her older siblings had been at birth, is due to start a course of monthly injections that kick start her body into a very premature menopause, with all its side effects that 50+ year old women have.
Her parents will have to pay the equivalent of £1,105 per shot as the working couple are not entitled to healthcare. Emily was diagnosed with Addison’s disease, an adrenal gland disorder, this summer, after years of tests.
But after just a week, things took a turn for the worse. She became unsettled, started crying out in pain and had difficulty sleeping.