
Throughout the nine months of pregnancy, a mother’s heart is filled with anticipation, excitement, and a hint of doubt. When an expecting parent gives birth, they all want the child to be healthy and happy. Regretfully, our expectations are not always met by the way things work out.
Jennie Wilklow, of Highland, New York, was looking forward to meeting her daughter. Jennie and her spouse were overcome with happiness the moment they held their baby.
After multiple ultrasounds and check-ups with the physician, the results consistently showed a healthy baby.
This assurance put their minds at rest, and they had no idea that their darling Anna would be born with a disease that would permanently alter their lives.
At 34 weeks, Jennie had a C-section to deliver Anna. She peered into Anna’s eyes when the physicians placed the baby in her arms and felt an overwhelming sense of love.
Everything was going fine with their cute little one. However, Jennie couldn’t help but feel apprehensive about her husband when he came to visit her.
Jennie told Cafe Mom, “My husband’s silence scared me.” I pressed him for additional information as the doctor was leaving the room, and he just sat there looking shocked. With remorse, he added, “It’s bad.”
Upon meeting her gaze, her spouse said, “Jennie, she has the most beautiful soul.” Jennie did not know what such terms meant at the moment. Her mind was racing, but she had no idea what was wrong.
Anna suffered from an uncommon disease known as harlequin ichthyosis, which showed up as thick, severely fractured diamond-shaped plates. Jennie said to Cafe Mom shortly after giving birth, “Her delicate skin hardened as they desperately tried to help her.”
The dramatic splitting that followed the hardening left her slathered in open wounds throughout her body.”Anna prevailed despite the physicians’ concerns about her prognosis. She was quite beautiful,” Jennie proudly declared.
Unfortunately, there is no known cure for harlequin ichthyosis. The treatment involves regular showering and thorough skin moisturization, which takes consistent effort. I used to bathe her for hours every few hours, slathering her in Vaseline.
It might not seem like much, but it was one of the things I struggled with the most. I had visualized all the amazing clothes my child would have,” Jennie said.
She set up the “harlequin diva” Instagram page and started posting images of Anna there in an effort to raise awareness of this illness. Through her articles, she sheds light on the challenges faced by parents of children with harlequin ichthyosis on a daily basis.
“Anna won many people’s hearts and is the pinnacle of perfection in its purest form.” She has a natural capacity to carry out these mundane tasks. The world celebrates with us every time we achieve a new milestone, Jennie said to Cafe Mom.She went on, “I now realize that my love for my daughter is the reason Anna was given to me.” Because we were destined to be together, we will work together to redefine what true beauty means to the world.
In addition to being beautiful in her own right, Anna is fortunate to have parents who will stop at nothing to ensure that she has a happy existence.
Let’s help spread the news about Anna’s story by inviting our friends and family to read this article on Facebook. Despite our differences, we can work together to raise awareness of and respect for the incredible beauty and power that each individual holds.
‘Little Miss Dynamite’ blew up the charts when she was only 12: The story of Brenda Lee
Brenda Lee’s name may not be as recognizable as some of the other music stars from the 1960s but when you think of Christmas, you’ll know her song, and start humming her catchy tune, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”
When Lee, now 78, first hit the stage, she wasn’t old enough to drive but her powerful vocals steered her “unprecedented international popularity” as the most successful female artist of the 1960s.
Lee, whose voice defied her diminutive stature at only 4 foot 9, became a fan favorite when she was only 12.
Brenda May Tarpley, born in 1944, got her start in the late 1940s, became huge in the 1950s, and over her career–that started before she left elementary school–she topped the charts 55 times, earning the title as the most successful female recording artist of the 1960s.
When Lee was only eight (according to Rolling Stone), her father, a construction worker, was killed at work and little Brenda–who then changed her last name to Lee–became the family’s primary provider.

Taking care of her younger brother, big sister, and mother–a cotton mill worker–was not a duty, but something she wanted to do. She said that she was thrilled when she made her first $20, so she could help her family: “Even at that young age, I saw that helped our life,” Lee said, adding “It put some food on the table. It helped, and I loved it.”
The Atlanta-born chanteuse, called a “pioneer of early rock and roll,” by the Georgia Encyclopedia, achieved “unprecedented international popularity in the 1960s.”
But, an incredibly humble human, Lee credits those who helped her achieve her dreams. When Christianity Today asked what she thinks about being a legend, Lee said “I don’t think of myself that way!” She continued, “I’m just a girl who’s been blessed to be doing what I’m doing, and there’s a lot of people who’ve sweated a lot of tears and put a lot of life’s work into me to be able to have my dream. So, if I’m a legend, then they’re legends, too.”
In 1956, the young girl joined country star Red Foley for a show at the Bell Auditorium near her home in Augusta, and she belted out “Jambalaya,” by Hank Williams.

She was then signed to appear on Foley’s Ozark Jubilee, a country music show, where millions of viewers fell in love with the sassy 12-year-old whose talent was developed well beyond her age.
In the same year, Lee signed with Decca Records, and the next year, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and fusing country with rhythm and blues–highlighted by her hiccupping vocals–she recorded early rockabilly classics like “BIGELOW 6-200,” “Little Jonah,” and “Let’s Jump the Broomstick.”
When asked if–when as a young girl–she was nervous performing in front of large crowds, she answered: “No, not really. Nobody ever told me to be nervous. The stage always felt like a hometown to me because I had been in front of people ever since I was 3 years old, singing to people. So it was a very comfortable spot for me.”
In 1957, Lee earned the nickname “Little Miss Dynamite” for her pint-sized powerhouse recording of the song “Dynamite,” and in 1958, fans heard “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree,” a genre and generation-crossing holiday standard, released when she was only 13.
“I knew it was magical,” she told Rolling Stone.
Over the next couple of years, she charted with hits like “Sweet Nuthin’s,” “All Alone Am I,” and “Fool #1.”
Most of her songs, however, contradicted her experience as a young girl. Her mother didn’t let her date and she graduated high school not understanding the heartbreak of young love.

She was only 16 when she said “Love could be so cruel” in the song “I’m Sorry” and only 16 when she said “I want his lips to kiss me” in the song “I Want to be Wanted,” both back-to-back hits when she was still in school.
And when she turned 18, she met Ronnie Shacklett, whom she’s now been happily married to for 60 years.
Life on the road for Lee as a youngster had its difficulties. She celebrated her 12th birthday in Las Vegas and speaking with the Las Vegas Journal, Lee explained her loneliness.
“Of course, I wasn’t even allowed to walk through a casino, I was so young. So I didn’t even know what a casino looked like. They took me into the kitchen, then into the showroom. And then when my show was over, I was brought back out through the kitchen and back up to my room. Children weren’t allowed … in the casino area.” She continued, “There wasn’t anything to do in Vegas for a kid. The most fun I had was on the stage.”
Speaking on what she missed out on as a child, the award-winning Lee said, “Many times, I yearned to be with my friends rather than be out there on the road.”
Turns out she made new friends on the road, like with the music group that opened for her at a 1962 show in Germany. “I hung out with John,” she says effortlessly, speaking of John Lennon. “He was extremely intelligent, very acerbic with his jokes, just a gentle person. When I found out that they later said they were fans of my music, I was just floored.”

Leave a Reply