"Pain teaches. Pain Protects. Pain can save you from a lot of bad things."
Imagine not being able to feel pain. At first, it sounds pretty awesome. Pain is not a fun experience. Most people do not like to feel pain. However, not being able to feel pain has devastating consequences and is actually cause to worry.
In this article, young Gabby Gingras has a very rare disorder called congenital insensitivity to pain (also known as congenital analgia). This means that for reasons unknown, the connection between the nerves that sense pain and the brain's recognition to pain is missing. Other sensory areas remain in tact. Young Gabby also suffers from a disorder called anhydrosis, meaning she can not sweat. This makes it difficult for her to keep her body temperature stable.
To say that a child living with congenital analgia lives a careful life is an understatement. Everything is dangerous because the child doesn't know when he/she is hurting him/herself. In Gabby's case, her fingers became mutilated from biting them too hard as a young child. She has been injured many times, breaking her jaw and not knowing until the infection caused her to have a fever. Her eyes became damaged so badly she had to have her left eye removed.
There is no cure for congenital analgia. The only thing someone can do is try their best to prevent injuries, which is much easier said than done, especially dealing with a young child who doesn't know any better. Pain is the definition of a blessing in disguise.
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