A youngster lives with a rare condition that means her bones are so delicate they can fracture with even the slightest impact.

Zoe Lush, six, has fractured almost every bone in her body and faced a serious threat to her spine after bones in her neck began to wear away.

Simply sneezing could result in a broken rib, while a fall could have serious consequences.

Zoe, from Huntington Beach, California, fractured several bones while she was still in the womb, suffered a fractured collarbone during birth and experienced another 100 fractures before her first birthday.

Her mother Chelsea, now 27, was just 20-years-old when she fell pregnant with Zoe and doctors advised her to end the pregnancy, but she chose to continue.

The condition, called Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI), is caused by a genetic mutation and affects just one in 15,000 people in the UK and up to 50,000 people in the US.

Zoe’s mother, Chelsea Lush, 27, said: ‘Zoe is very fragile, she literally breaks in the wind.

‘There have been some close calls but she astonishes us every single day.

‘The doctors said she wouldn’t even make it through birth but now she’s coming up to her seventh birthday.’

Treating Zoe’s fractures has become part of Chelsea and Zoe’s father, Curtis Lush’s, 28, everyday lives, with them even learning to support the affected areas themselves.

Curtis, a surgical technologist, said: ‘Zoe has experienced countless fractures – we stopped counting at 100 around her first birthday.

‘We used to keep a list because we go to a yearly clinic where we had to update them but we stopped counting because it was pointless – we knew she would be dealing with fractures for the rest of her life.’

Zoe attends physical therapy and her stronger muscles have begun to somewhat protect her bones, meaning the fractures are less frequent than they once were.

She has also had metal rods inserted into her limbs and in Jul she had neck surgery to help stabilize her spine.

She has worn a neck brace since, which will be removed later this month.

But despite the challenges she faces, Zoe is a happy child who enjoys baking, painting and playing with her three-year-old brother Felix.

Chelsea said: ‘Zoe is a social butterfly with all of the other kids.

‘She doesn’t notice any differences that they see and she will make friends with everyone that she meets.

‘She is able to do every other thing that other kids are, other than run on their feet but she can race them just as fast in her wheelchair.

‘I would not change Zoe and I would never ever take anything back.

‘In the future I hope she has the same opportunities as everyone else and above everything I just want her to be happy.’

Source: Daily Mail