Grandmother shrinks to size of 2ft-tall toddler after birth of her son (photos)

A rare medical condition has caused a grandmother to shrink to the height of a toddler - two feet tall after the delivery of her third child, a son.

Looking like a small baby , Shanti Devi, 60, spends her days cuddled up and lying on a cot, mumbling or singing alone.

Her limbs have shrunk, twisted and have become so rigid that any movement is impossible for her.

She cannot open her hands and spread her legs or even tilt her head and entirely relies on her children
for assistance.

She has been like this for more than two decades.

Devi once stood five-feet tall but in the past 25 years she has gradually shrunk to just two-feet tall.

"I have been living like this for nearly 25 years now. This is painful. I get bored but I can do nothing on my own. I miss sitting and waking and meeting my friends or watering plants," said Devi in a hoarse voice.

About how it all started, her husband Gangacharan Kushwaha said:

"She was perfectly healthy and leading a normal life when we got married thirty five years ago.

Problems only started after the delivery of our third child, a son. She had become weak and very slow. After three months, she complained of severe pain in her bones that had become stiff.

After a couple of months, she noticed changes in her body as she was looking smaller," he added.

"She told us but we did not believe her until we realised she had shortened by half feet in just four months. However, she could walk."

But Shanti's condition deteriorated and she became completely bed-ridden after a thatched roof from a neighbouring hut fell on her legs.

"One day, while neighbours were fitting their new thatched roof, she was looking at it and it accidentally fell on her legs. After that accident, she could not get up on her feet.

"Her bones had become weak and tight. She complained of severe pain and eventually lost physical strength and became bed-ridden," added the 62-year-old farmer.

While her peculiar condition baffled her family and neighbours, Gangacharan sought help from several doctors but unfortunately, no form of treatment or medicine could work and heal her.

The helpless husband said:

"I took her to several hospitals for treatment. Wherever people suggested to me, I took her there. Even when I had no money, I did not lose hope. But there was no result. Eventually I gave up on her treatment."

While her pitiable condition has left her family distressed, Shanti has become an attraction in her village in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh in north India.

People from far away villages throng to her small shanty to take a glimpse of her.

Neighbour Ajay Singh, 27 said:

"I was born here and I have never seen her walking. Earlier she used to crawl but after a roof from a neighbour fell on her legs, she could never walk."

For more than a decade, Shanti Devi has not been to any doctor and her family is uncertain about the 'mysterious' condition.

But Dr Pankaj Srivastava, a local physician, believes her condition looks like Brittle Bone disease or Osteogenesis Imperfecta.

He said:

"I cannot say anything without diagnosis but it looks like to be a case of OI, a genetic disease where bones become fragile and break easily. But without examination, nothing could be said."