Is It Possible To Love Too Much? New Book Details Life With Williams Syndrome
Is it possible to love too much? To indiscriminately love complete strangers? The new book “The Boy Who Loved Too Much” chronicles several years in the life of a boy with a rare genetic disorder called Williams syndrome, which causes developmental delays, heart issues and unabashed affection.
Author Jennifer Latson (@JennieLatson) joins Here & Now‘s Robin Young to talk about the syndrome, and the remarkable family she followed.
- Find more great reads on the Here & Now bookshelf
- See below for an excerpt from “The Boy Who Loved Too Much”
Interview Highlights
On Gayle, her son, Eli, and Williams syndrome
“She actually got kind of lucky, although she didn’t feel lucky at the time, that her son was diagnosed relatively young, because some people with Williams might not get diagnosed. It’s a rare enough disorder — about 1 in 10,000 people has it. Unless a cardiologist happens to notice that you have a rare heart defect that’s unique to Williams, a lot of people just could go years and years or their whole lives without getting diagnosed.”
On the symptoms, disabilities and abilities of those with Williams syndrome
“Originally Williams Syndrome was actually called elfin face syndrome. So, these characteristics are like what you would see in a storybook drawing of an elf — upturned nose, narrow chin, pointed ears. People with Williams tend to look more like each other than they do their own family members.
“There are symptoms of Williams that are kind of a strange grouping. So you have intellectual disability. It’s around what people with Down syndrome have, so an average IQ around
