• What questions did you need to research in order to create your mutation story?

I asked what Kniest Syndrome was, first of all. I knew absolutely nothing about the disease, so asking what it was seemed like a good start. After that, I asked what symptoms can appear if you have Kniest Syndrome, and “cures for Kniest Syndrome”.

• What new or familiar digital tools did you try to use as you worked through this project?

Google is possibly the most familiar “tool” at my disposal, so of course I would use it. Google was used to find things like videos, articles, and webpages on Kniest Syndrome.

• What was the process you used to investigate the topic?

I read up on Kniest Syndrome as much as I could. I didn’t want to write the short story as I studied up on the disease. Writing a story on something that you’re learning about at the same time is like trying to eat your cheeseburger and drink some pop at the same time. It never ends well and you’ll probably be unsatisfied at what happens in the end. I speak from experience, as disappointing as that is.

• How did you verify and cite the information you found?

I cited all of my websites below this post. I checked multiple websites to see if they were all the same. If multiple websites were talking bout the same thing, and things like “abnormal skleletal growth” and “problems with hearing” were on those websites, I would know that they’re correct.

• How did the process of completing this challenge go? What could you have done better?

I feel like that I rushed the end. I could have started working on it earlier, like when it was assigned on Monday, but I didn’t start working on it until Wednesday. But that’s me with all my work. I end up procrastination and I don’t start the assignment until there’s only a couple days left between me and the due date.

Citations:

http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/kniest-dysplasia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoliosis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoliosis

Now this is my story…

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Kniest Syndrome.

That’s what I was called. I never had a name. I was simply a section in a very, very long code of DNA in chromosome 12. A part of me was different from all the other genes of my host, Oscar. That’s what he’s called. A small part, a very small part of me was different from the other genes. I’ve asked around with the other genes in chromosome 12, they say they’ve seen this problem before. Other genes have had the same problem as me. But absolutely no one knows how it happens. It’s happened for as long as any gene can remember.

If you want the science of it, Kniest Syndrome doesn’t actually make my host shorter. It messes with my host’s growth of bones. His limbs can grow abnormally large or small, his spine can even grow in an interesting direction. People’s spines grow straight up, kinda like a tree trunk. Oscar’s spine grows up, deviates to his right side, and comes back to the center in the end. His spine looks sort of like a reverse C. With this, his rib cage is also offset a bit. I drew something that kinda looks like his spine on the right

I don’t affect just his bones. Well, actually I do, but when my genes mess with his bones, other things go wrong too. He needs glasses, because his sight is poor, and it’s all because of me and my Kniest Syndrome. I also caused his hearing problems, and it’s not because he listens to music with the headphones at max volume, or that he plays drums without ear protection, It’s because of me.

The whole thing doesn’t affect me, all that much. It’s my host Oscar, who suffers because of me. Because of me, he’s short. Not just 5’5” short, more like 4’9” short. He’s in his early 30s, and his wife Jamie got a job opportunity in Seattle. His family had to move from Toronto to Seattle. So he’s been looking for a new one for a couple of months now.

Whenever he meets someone for the first time, he always hears a short joke. He’s so abnormally short, that it’s somehow impossibly tempting to say something like “You look taller in your pictures” or whatever. He hears it every time (Or he doesn’t, I wouldn’t know).

At least, there’s been some good things that have come out of his shortness. Everyone thinks he’s adorable. Even his kids. He has two sons, and they both love LEGO to literal pieces. With his shortness, he seems like one of them, which the kids seem to like. He always plays LEGO with them because he’s secretly a child on the inside. His oldest son is nine, and his other son is going into kindergarten next year.lolol

I feel like I could have destroyed his life. I’m sure I could have. He would be abnormally short, he would probably be the butt of everyone’s jokes, he could fall into some depression and commit suicide because he was bullied at school for being so short. All of that, for simply being shorter. It’s happened before.

But the cool thing is, he wasn’t.

Oscar lives a happy life because he has people to look towards if he ever needs support. When he was a kid, people thought his short height was super cool. His friends were always so protective of him. Every day, he came home to a loving family, his wife and two kids. He would play LEGO with his kids, he would always talk with his friends over Skype as they played League of Legends, and he would always tell his wife, before they went to bed, that he loved her. Every night. He never forgot. Not even once.

I think he was pretty lucky to have such an awesome life.