My body has adapted to the defects. I am not very tall due to the birth defects, but the adapted muscles are incredibly strong. Other medical issues include a currently stabilized condition in my single kidney, a bladder mutation now repaired by several surgeries, back issues from the birth defect, and the usual aches of growing older with these birth defects. Medically, it is doubtful I will live to be a ripe old age.
Yes, I am in pain much of the time. Yes, I have a medical fund. Donations can be made via my email addy on the bottom of every page, and a paypal button will be installed very soon. Financially, my illness has killed me already. I will retire much younger, and die earlier, from my birth defects. Basically, I was born with a shorter life span.
Named after Sir Alfred Poland, Poland’s Syndrome is described as an absence or underdevelopment of the chest muscle (pectoralis) on one side of the body and webbing of the fingers (cutaneous syndactyly) of the hand on the same side (ipsilateral hand). Sometimes referred to as “Poland anomaly,” it is a rare condition present at birth (congenital). For people born with Poland’s Syndrome, the breastbone portion (sternal) of the pectoralis is also missing.
The severity of Poland’s Syndrome differs from person to person and is often not diagnosed or reported. The incidence, therefore, is difficult to determine, but current estimates are between one in 10,000 to one in 100,000 births.
Poland’s Syndrome is three times more common in boys than girls, and affects the right side of the body twice as often as the left. The reasons for these differences are unknown, as is the cause.
