A mum of two has told how her daughters are battling a rare condition that means, at nine and 14, they're still the size of babies - weighing just 19kg between them.

Lola and Claire Hartley stand at just 5ft tall between them and cannot walk or talk despite the fact that they are nine and 14 years old. They can still fit in their mother Gwen's arms and the girls are often mistaken for babies.

Due to a rare genetic condition the pair are stuck in time.

Their 41-year-old mum, Gwen said they're just like any other girls their age and love to listen to rap music and watch TV shows about getting married.



After Claire was diagnosed with microcephaly, which is associated with a smallness of the head and incomplete brain development, at three months old, Gwen and her husband Scott, 40, were told that she would be unlikely to live to see her first birthday.

They were determined to give their daughter the best life they could though, 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 celebrate what short life they thought she had left, Claire thrived - as did her sister Lola, born with same condition five years later.



The girls cannot walk or talk, they suffer from dwarfism and have visual impairment, meaning their parents interact with them using sensory toys in a darkened room.

Doctors warned that they would be unable to make any purposeful movements, but Mrs Hartley said she's seen Claire appear to push away her glasses.

They also both suffer daily seizures, but their mum has said they don't affect them negatively.

Praising her remarkable girls, their mum said:


Follow Gwen's blog at www.thehartleyhooligans.com