Genetic disorder turns 9-yr-old Brit girl into ‘Jekyll and Hyde’

LONDON - A nine-year-old Brit girl has been suffering from a rare genetic disorder that transforms her from a quiet, loving child, into a violent terror every day.

Grace Fishwick, Erdington, Birmingham, lashes out at her parents and brothers, and even attacks herself, several times a day.

Grace, who was born with Smith-Magenis Syndrome (SMS), has had violent outbursts since she was a toddler, but as she has grown older her episodes have become more frequent and dangerous.

Now, her violent outbursts have grown so bad that her desperate parents have given her own padded room so she doesn’t hurt herself during her furious tirades.

“The only way I can describe Grace is to say she’s like Jekyll and Hyde,” the Daily Mail quoted her long-suffering mum Lisa, as saying.

“One minute, she is playing happily with her toys, and the next she is attacking us and herself. Most of the time she is a loving, caring little girl who goes out of her way to make her mummy and daddy happy.

“But she has these outbursts-sometimes up to 10 times a day where she is just out of control,” she said.

Lisa, who adopted Grace when she was 18 months old, has even had to put padding around all the radiators in the family home, in case she tries to hit her head on them.

She added, “It’s devastating to watch her self-harming and knowing there’s nothing you can do. The hardest part is the lack of understanding about the condition. If we are out and Grace has a tantrum, people are so cruel.

“I’ve had women come up to me in the street and tell me I’m a bad mother, and people have even told me to hit Grace to stop her aggression.”

Since adopting Grace, special needs teacher Lisa has become head of the Smith-Magenis Syndrome Foundation, which help to bring parents of sufferers together. (ANI)