When Samantha Lazazzaro was born, she had cataracts, or clouding of her eyes. She had surgery to correct it, but now, she has severe developmental delays, stunted growth, and tremors in her body. Her younger brother, Jake, has been born with the same symptoms, despite all prenatal testing coming back negative. Their parents are shocked to find out, five years after Samantha's birth, that they both have an extremely rare genetic disease called Cockayne syndrome, which prevents DNA from regenerating and speeds up the aging process--in fact, both children are only expected to live to age 7. How it causes the other symptoms is unknown. Eileen Collins has always been a big talker, but suddenly, she wakes up with a raspy voice. At first, her voice returns to normal during the day, but soon, her voice remains raspy all day. She speaks with the raspy voice, but yells normally, and has difficulty speaking clearly. Doctors believe she has a psychological problem, when actually, Eileen has a rare neurological disorder called spasmodic dysphonia, which causes her vocal cords to spasm.
