Just before Lainess began walking, she was diagnosed with Blount’s disease, a leg deformity which causes pain when walking, imbalance, limping, and extra stress on her leg joints. "There's a limit to how far she can walk and an obvious limitation on mobility," staff at our medical partner CURE International say, "but one of the biggest impacts is the negative attention she receives because of it." Despite teasing from peers, Lainess “hasn’t let the jokes deter her from staying enrolled in school.” Lainess’s mother “desperately wants her daughter to be normal” and “feels hurt when Lainess tells her about the names that she is called.” Lainess hopes to become a nurse when she finishes school. For $1,000, we can help make that happen by funding surgery to fix her tibia and helping her complete her education.