Click to play videoSeattle: Ashley was diagnosed with a severe brain impairment called encephalopathy as an infant.
She cannot walk or talk. She is fed though a tube and has been at the same level of developmental abilities since she was three-months old.
As Ashley got bigger, her parents began to worry that they would not be able to continue caring for her if she grew too tall and heavy for them to bathe, lift and move her.
That us when they asked the doctors at a children’s hospital, if they could embark on an unprecedented medical path that included a hysterectomy, the removal of her breast buds and a lengthy course of oestrogen treatment to keep Ashley small.
Ashley’s parents however, have declined all interviews, but on the on the website say, “We want to avoid sensationalism or philosophical debates about what we did and why we did it. We would rather care for and enjoy Ashley then get into endless troubles.”
Ashley's parents bring her to children's hospital every three months so that doctors can monitor her height and her weight, her bone growth, and her oestrogen levels.
Ashley is now nine years old now and after two-and-a-half years, she just wrapped up her treatments recently.
At 4 feet 4 inches and 70 pounds, her doctor believes she has almost stopped growing.
Ashley's parent’s say that they did what they believe is best for their daughter. "Unless you are living the experience, you are speculating and you have no clue what it is like to be the bedridden child or their caregivers,” they say on their website.
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