World of Music If you’re from around the Springfield area you are probably lucky enough to know of Dayton Bullard. If you’re not, Dayton is your average, happy, 19-year old who loves music, goes to school, works, and just happens to live with Williams syndrome. Dayton lives a normal life with a few modifications with her mom Marcia Wickett and her siblings. The very first thing I want to mention is that Dayton changed my perspective on life and I really hope I can bring to you that effect; the effect her family lovingly calls the Dayton Effect. Despite everything she has lived through and everything she continues to deal with, she is one of the happiest people I have met and all she wants is for you to be as happy as her. I was truly honored to get to know her and I am very honored to bring her story to more people. Williams syndrome is a developmental disorder that affects many parts of the body. There can be mild to moderate intellectual disabilities or learning problems, unique personality characteristics, distinctive facial features, and heart and cardiovascular problems. The syndrome is caused by a depletion of strands in the #7 chromosome. It is also sometimes referred to as the “cocktail syndrome” because it causes the person to act like they are intoxicated all the time. They are incredibly happy, social, and trusting. Dayton loves and trusts everyone because she doesn’t believe there to be bad in people. Williams syndrome is also pretty rare. It only affects 1 in 10,000 people worldwide. Because it’s so rare, it actually took the doctors awhile to diagnose Dayton. She was missing the normal milestones and wasn’t walking, even at 13 months. She was suffering some other complications, such as high calcium levels and ammonia. She also wasn’t gaining weight like other babies; at 13 months she only weighed 13 pounds. Her family doctor referred her to a doctor in Sioux Falls. Marcia walked in to that doctor’s office and after 13 months of not knowing what was going on, he took one look at her and diagnosed her because of her physical features. William syndrome causes elfin features so Dayton’s ears were pointy but there were also no folds so they were a bit floppy. Marcia saved up money and when Dayton was 5 or 6 she paid for plastic surgery for them to fix her ears. Dayton does suffer from some learning disabilities as well as the complete trust of strangers. She loves to hug everybody, which was terrifying when she was younger because of the idea that she could be kidnapped. Also, Marcia is a germophobe. None of that bothers Dayton, however, because hugging people brings happiness. Dayton also suffers from some health issues concerning her heart. When she was a baby she had a hole in her heart, which all babies have, but hers didn’t heal on its own. Her heart was pumping and the blood was pooling in the hole and going into her lungs, which was causing all her ammonia. Dayton had the hole repaired when she was 3 but she also had a narrowing of a pulmonary artery which they had hoped would fix itself when they repaired the hole. They had hoped that it would be enough to force it to balloon open but it’s still pretty narrow but she has a significant amount of blood flow. Dayton also has a bleeding disorder which further complicates things. She has Von Willebrand disease which means her blood doesn’t clot very well and causes excessive bleeding from an injury, after surgery, or dental work. Dayton does have a medicine that Marcia can give her before any planned surgery or dental work that helps but it does complicate how fast she recovers from surgery. It was especially bad before she was diagnosed when she was younger and would get nosebleeds or lose a tooth. Dayton also suffers from high anxiety and can escalate quickly to where it can be hard to calm her down. Marcia ing! Start planning this years’ summer projects! hink Spr T NATURESCAPING DESIGNS ( LANDSCAPING | PROPERTY CARE | HOLIDAY DECORATING ) CALL US TODAY 605.661.1205 16vHERVOICEvJANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 NATURESCAPINGDESIGNS.COM LAURAWNSD@GMAIL.COM