Looking at Aboli Jarit, a young woman from Najapur, India, you would be forgiven for thinking her a child no older than six, even though she is really 19 years of age.

Aboli, who stands only 3ft 4in-tall, recently became a viral internet sensation after sharing her story. As a baby, Aboli was diagnosed with renal rickets, a very rare condition that combines chronic renal disease with bone deformity. To make matters worse, she was born without a bladder, so she has to wear diapers all the time, as urine simply flows continually, as it has nowhere to accumulate. The girl’s bones got progressively weaker as time went by, and she eventually became unable to walk, which was brutal, as she had always loved to sing and dance. Every day is a struggle for the 19-year-old, but somehow she finds the courage to be optimistic and see the glass half full.

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A Chinese man was recently diagnosed with “crocodile tear syndrome”, a rare medical condition that causes people to shed tears whenever they eat.

Crying is usually triggered by a strong emotional reaction, such as sadness, pain or uncontrollable laughter, but in rare cases it can be activated by something as benign as eating. Last year, an elderly man, referred to only as ‘Mr. Zhang’ by Chinese media, reportedly started shedding tears when he ate. He didn’t think much of it at first, but the crying got noticeably worse when he needed to chew for longer, and this interfered with his social life. Zhang started avoiding eating in public, for fear of tears rolling down his face in front of people, so he became isolated. Luckily, he realized that this wasn’t something he could hide forever, and decided to see a doctor.

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