We Were NOT Treated as Just a Number…We Were Treated as Valued Individuals.

By DeAnn Huxman As I anticipate the 2012 National Foundation for Ectodermal Dysplasias National Family Conference in Florida, I’m filled with excitement for the time together with this group, our other Family.  My family attended our first national conference in Kansas City in 2005.  We had been interested in attending previous years, but were concerned…

Conference Means Knowing My Son is Not Alone

by Jennifer Hagerty With the National Family Conference fast approaching, I find myself reflecting and thinking about how much fun it would be to attend. Joshua is almost four years old and already knows that he has ectodermal dysplasia/AEC syndrome. He does not quite understand it but he knows it makes strangers gawk, point, whisper,…

It Was Time That I Stop Ignoring the Thing That Made Me Most Unique

By Heather McKelvie In 1996, my mother and I went the Family Conference, which was in St. Louis that year.  Looking back, I don’t remember very much about it.  Perhaps because I was a teenager, I was in denial about the fact that my EEC was a life-long condition that I would always have to deal with. …

Meet the Kelsos & Huxmans!

The Kelso and Huxman families met in 2006 at the NFED Family Conference in St. Louis. Both have children affected by EEC syndrome and they found an instant connection with one another. Before that conference had ended, they were finishing each other’s sentences; their children were referring to themselves as “cousins”; and they were making…