Mary Cate Lynch played while her mom spoke to students at Laidlaw School.
During questions from the audience, a student asked what the preschooler’s favorite TV show is.
Twice her mom, Kerry, needed to ask the distracted 3-year-old the question. Once her mom got her attention, Mary Cate’s answer to her favorite TV show was immediate, “Mickey Mouse.”
“Yep, Mickey Mouse. He has four fingers just like she does,” Kerry Lynch said.
From birth, different has defined Mary Cate. Born Dec. 8, 2011, doctors knew there was something different about her. They just didn’t know what to call it.
A specialist diagnosed the Chicago youth as have Apert Syndrome, a craniofacial condition that affects the head, feet and hands. It is a spontaneous genetic mutation that occurs at conception.
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“Only 25 kids are born in the United States with Apart Syndrome in a year,” Lynch said.
Bones in Mary Cate’s head, hands and feet grow differently; some are fused together.
“We have been told Mary Kate may need 40 to 60 surgeries,” Lynch said, noting the 3-year-old has already been through five surgeries, two to separate fingers and toes.
Another surgery was to make her head bigger, giving her bones room to grow.
Two of Mary Cate’s’ fingers on each hand are still fused together. To separate them would lead to continual breaks, Lynch said, as neither fingers on either hand would be strong enough on their own.
Lynch said she is used to the stares Mary Cate gets because she looks different. Because of cranial bone configuration, she has a different look.
“The bones in her face did not grow properly,” Lynch said.
She said she usually tries to go over and talk to the staring person, telling him or her about her daughter’s condition.
Lynch stressed to Laidlaw students the importances of showing tolerance.
“There is always someone who looks somewhat different,” Lynch said. “Everyone needs to be taught to be positive about people affected by different variables.
“Why not be nice to them? There is physical pain that some people deal with. Others have emotional pain. You do not understand what they are going through, how frustrating things can be for them.”
Lynch takes her Be Kind message into area schools.
“We are all different. We can all be kind because of everything people go through every day,” Lynch said. “If you see someone who does not look exactly the same, you can make a difference by spending time with them,. That can be special. A smile and a kind word can go a long way.”
Lynch said outward appearances may show differences, “but we are all the same inside.”
Lynch said Mary Cate’s speech was delayed, but has been increasing since her younger sister started talking.
She said the hope is that Mary Cate will be able to live on her own when she gets older. The Lynches don’t know all that Mary Cate can achieve.
“Because of the way her fingers are, they said she would never be able to work a zipper,” Lynch said. “So, I put her in zipper pajamas. The next morning, she was naked. So she was able to do the zipper.”
Having four fingers on each hand hasn’t been an issue for Mary Cate, her mom said.
“She doesn’t know how much harder it is because she has always only had four fingers,” Lynch said. “But she can do everything with four fingers that we do with five fingers.”
Lynch said neither her nor her husband are carriers of Apert Syndrome, that the condition just happened.
“It is just the way God wanted to make her,” Lynch said.
Information about Mary Cate and her condition can be found at http://www.mymarycate.org.
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Kevin Beese is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.