A year ago we introduced you to Bricanna Hjelmstad, a Bismarck toddler who wasn’t expected to live past birth. She is now three-years-old and has defied the odds, but fights for her life 365 days a year. Being 1 in 7.5 billion can be a good thing, and in some ways it is for Bricanna. She has overcome many obstacles in her life and has a disease so rare it doesn’t even have a name.
“Like miles upon miles above what everybody has ever expected her. She’s got past her life expectancy what they first thought,” says Lorie Hjelmstad, Bricanna’s mom. This tiny toddler may never get any bigger but since the disease is so rare, her doctors don’t know exactly what to expect.
“We just want her to be a normal little girl who can play with her friends and be able to keep up with them,” says Cara Mitzel, CHI St. Alexius Health. Slowly but surely she is making progress to meet that goal.
“Now she’s a typical toddler, very determined. She has a mind of her own. Very stubborn,” says Hjelmstad. Last year, Bricanna couldn’t get around without the assistance of a special walker and she also couldn’t talk.
“She’s got more endurance and cognitively and gross motor-wise she’s developing very nicely,” says Mitzel. Her mom says that every day is a blessing, and she’s got lots of dreams for her daughter.
“I really hope that one day maybe, granted she’s a little person, but I hope one day she’ll get to experience love and marriage,” says Hjelmstad. In two more years, Lorie is hoping for another first: taking Bricanna to her first day of school. Even though Bricanna’s disease doesn’t have a name, the health issue she faces is medically-known as a triplicate of the eighth chromosome.