Parents of a seven-year-old girl with a rare disorder have spoken out about the day their ‘world came crashing on top of’ them.

After their two-year-old daughter Adeline came back from a summer camping trip with a red mark on the back of her leg, parents Megan Dunn and Kurt Tonhaeuser from Hartford, Wisconsin initially dismissed it as ‘nothing more than a simple bug bite’ likely from ‘the sandbox she was playing in’.

Little did they know, their lives were about to be ‘forever changed’.

Adeline was diagnosed with the condition at the age of two (Porphyria Foundation)

Several days past and little Adeline’s red mark was joined by a series of ‘small blisters on her hands and her toes’ and later on her face, leading to the parents‘ concern ‘growing’.

They took their toddler to a paediatrician who diagnosed Adeline with impetigo – a skin infection which can typically be treated with antibiotics. However, after taking a course of antibiotics, there was ‘no improvement’ and the blisters kept appearing.

On July 27, 2017, the Tonhaeusers took Adeline to a pediatric dermatologist and that’s ‘the day that forever changed [their] lives’.

“The day our world come crashing on top of us. The day that made our world come to a screeching halt,” the parents’ post to American Porphyria Foundation’s website continues.

Adeline has to be fully protected from sunlight and artificial light too (Porphyria Foundation)

The Tonhaeusers revealed they were told Adeline ‘may be having a severe reaction to the sun’.

The post continues: “That day we heard words like heme, porphyria, genetic condition […] The doctor ordered some immediate lab work.

“We left the dermatologists office in a cloud of confusion, making sure we remembered exactly what she said but not understanding one word amid our disbelief.

“After hours of searching for information and reading anything and everything on CEP and seeing the pictures of those inflicted with the disease, it felt harder and harder to breathe.

“We just wanted this to be a bad dream because no parent should have to read that. We waited an entire week for the results of the tests, hoping and praying it was not this terrible disease. A disease so rare that there are only around 300 documented cases in medical journals.”

Devastatingly, their ‘worst fear’ was confirmed – Adeline tested positive for Congenital Erythropoietic Porphyria (CEP).

Adeline’s parents are raising awareness of the condition (Porphyria Foundation)

CEP is a ‘very rare inherited metabolic disorder’ which is caused by a gene mutation. Symptoms typically start in infancy or childhood and the ‘major symptom’ is ‘hypersensitive of the skin to sunlight and some types of artificial light’ – exposure of which can lead to lesions which can become infected and lead to ‘scarring, bone loss and deformities,’ Porphyria Foundation explains.

Adeline’s parents explain their ‘beautiful baby girl cannot be exposed to any UV light without suffering horrible consequences’.

They added: “From that day forward, her life changed as did our entire world. We now must do whatever it takes to protect Adeline.”

Until there is a cure for CEP, they say ‘for the rest of Adeline’s life’ she will ‘need to avoid UV light’ not just from the sun but artificial light too and has to be completely covered as much as possible – spending recess at school in an indoor room and her time outside extremely limited.

Megan told Today: “She makes it well known to us that she hates the disease. […] She wants to be normal, and she wants to go outside and play like the other kids.”

However, the mom resolved: “We just keep going. You can’t look back. We just keep moving forward.”

You can find out more on the American Porphyria Foundation’s website and donate to help those affected.

A woman who is allergic to exercise has opened up about what it’s like living with the extremely rare condition.

We’ve all heard of some of the common allergies, typically linked to food. But to be allergic to exercise, well that’s a different story.

Maggie Habashy, from Plymouth, Minnesota, was diagnosed with exercise-induced anaphylaxis after noticing something wasn’t quite right when she was working out.

An allergic reaction can include a range of different symptoms including hives, vomiting and swelling up of the throat – while an individual can even die if the reaction is severe enough.

Speaking of how she first noticed something wasn’t quite right when exercising, Habashy told Fox: “I went out for my first run after I had her; it was a couple of months after, and I just felt really itchy.

“I realized my whole body was covered in hives, and so I was like, okay, this is kind of weird, maybe something environmental. I’m not really sure what. I didn’t actually, like, think about it too much. And then it kept happening. But not only did it keep happening, it kept getting worse.”

When Habashy would attempt a run or a partial workout class and her eyes would begin to swell up.

Maggie Habashy has been diagnosed with exercise-induced anaphylaxis (Fox 9)

During Ramadan last year, where Habashy was not eating for hours before working out, she started to feel itchiness in her throat.

She rushed to the nearest emergency room, where a doctor was concerned over the Minnesota woman’s welfare.

“He could see my whole face was swollen up. I couldn’t talk, and the doctor, she asked him [Maggie’s husband], ‘Has this ever happened?’ He said she’s gotten allergic reactions before from working out, but definitely nothing like this,” Habashy said.

“He said the doctor looked really scared, and she said, ‘I don’t know what would have happened if she would have waited ten minutes’.”

The Minnesota woman experiences a number of different symptoms (Fox)

Fox joined Habashy for a recent workout class, which saw her having to stop exercising just 15 minutes in.

“Sometimes I make it 15 minutes, sometimes I make it 45. It just kind of depends on the day,” she added.

“Some days are more emotional than others. I get frustrated that I can’t finish it, but I just do the best I can and move on.”

Habashy said: “I hope to connect with anyone else who is maybe struggling. That’s a big thing – you feel so isolated not being able to have control of how your body might react to something.”

Separated at birth and put up for adoption, a pair of identical twins proved how genetically alike they were after meeting for the first time at the age of 39.

Incredibly, they were both named James by their adoptive parents but the pair preferred to be called Jim… so let’s talk about the incredible story of Jim Lewis and Jim Springer, also known as ‘the Jim twins’.

I’ve never written Jim so many times in my life.

Born in Ohio, the pair were both told they had a twin when they were born but that their brother had died – Lewis found out at the age of five, while Springer was eight when he heard.

For the next 30 years they never batted an eyelid. So, the first detail they had in common was one they had no control over, which we’ve already discussed – their name – and they only lived 40 miles away from each other.

They both found love twice – first they both met and married women called Linda.

Jim Lewis and Jim Springer were identical twins who were separated at birth (YouTube)

Unfortunately that didn’t work out for Jim, nor did it work out for the other Jim, so they divorced their respective Lindas.

Jim then met Betty, while Jim also found a woman named Betty, and they tied the knot – yes Springer and Lewis both married separate Lindas and Bettys before ever knowing each other.

The similarities don’t stop there, as the two men discovered they had the same taste in beer and preferred to smoke the same brand of cigarettes.

When they were asked to be part of a scientific study, they got incredibly similar results for tests determined to work out their personality and medical history, and when they were asked to draw a picture they both drew the same thing.

The ‘Jim twins’ had an astounding amount of similarities (YouTube/The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson)

Fortunately, there are some differences, otherwise this would be in incredibly eerie tale, as one twin ended up getting married a third time to a woman named Sandy, which was not emulated by the other Jim.

In February 1979, the Jim Twins were finally reunited at the age of 39.

There are other surprising examples of twins living incredibly similar lives, with multiple cases of twins having children on the exact same day as their sibling.

Who knows, maybe you have a long lost identical twin somewhere out there living almost the exact same life as you? Though we doubt such a story will reach this level of similarities.

While it’s not something any of us have to live through unless we’re the one carrying it out, autopsies are still not a pleasant affair.

They can be a very useful way to figure out how someone has passed away.

Many pathologists who report to coroners’ offices in the UK may try to avoid doing a full autopsy if they can for the sake of the deceased’s family.

Instead they can use tools and techniques like CT and MRI scans or blood and tissue samples as a way to get the information they need as unintrusively as possible.

But unfortunately it is sometimes still necessary to carry out an autopsy, and one aspect of this has people feeling very squeamish indeed.

There are many factors when carrying out an autopsy – and it’s something which fills people with a certain morbid curiosity.

Autopsy technician from the US G Dubya goes by the handle big_led73 on TikTok, where he has some 2.3 million followers interested in his peek behind the curtain into what lies beyond for us, or at least our mortal remains.

And one part of the process has people very unsettled.

He revealed one aspect of autopsies which had people squeamish. (TikTok / big_led73)

It’s concerning piercings, and one kind of piercing in particular.

Obviously these might be something which could be relevant to a given autopsy, and some people had questions about what happens to them after we’re gone.

For example, some people might specifically want their piercings kept in after they die.

Dubya explained that for most of them, they get left in with one notable exception.

And there is a very good reason for this particular kind of piercing to be left in.

So which is it?

It was one piercing in particular. (TikTok / big_led73)

He explained: “The only one that I take out is your tongue ring.”

And it’s not just the piercing that comes out.

He explained: “I remove your tongue during an autopsy – we need to make sure you didn’t bite down on it, make sure you don’t have drugs in the back of your throat.

“So if you have a tongue ring, that one comes out, but nipples, nose, ears, eyebrows, private parts…”

All of these ones get to stay in your body after you’ve gone, and will probably still be there long after your body itself has gone.

People had a lot to say.

One posted: “Can you give me extra piercings? All the ones I couldn’t afford while alive?”

Another said: “Wait! what? everyone’s tongue is removed”

A third asked a question they may not want the answer to, writing: “Okay but how exactly do you take the tongue out? I’m intrigued.”

Do you really want to know the answer to that?