When you first meet her, you won’t be able to tell that Ipek Kuzu suffers from a rare genetic disease. The three-year-old plays happily on her own for hours, driving her toy cars and “cooking” in her pretend kitchen. But she’s not well. She’s a little wobbly on her feet and doesn’t say much, and if nothing is done, she may die by her mid-20s. Ipek has ataxia-telangiectasia, or A-T, a disease caused by an error in her DNA. It causes the loss of brain cells, along with a high risk of infection and cancer.
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