West 6th-grader Max Reid is Raising Awareness of Noonan’s Syndrome One Ribbon At a Time.

Recently, Max Reid, a 6th grader at West,  gave away pins to help raise awareness for Noonan’s Syndrome, Noonan’s Syndrome is a rare genetic condition that occurs in only 1 in every 2,500 people around the world. Reid is raising awareness about Noonan’s because, as he states, “It would be cool if more people knew about it.” Most people in school didn’t know about it before Reid passed out the pins, but now he hopes that awareness of Noonan’s will spread throughout the community.

Noonan’s Syndrome is mainly a condition that causes short stature, late development in the body, heart problems, malformations of the rib cage, and bleeding and/or bruising complications (About Noonan Syndrome). Some people have different combinations of the main symptoms as Reid states, “It’s (Noonan’s) a pain disorder in my case. Some people have the bad side, and they have heart and bleeding problems, but I just have pain in certain areas.” Reid has a lot of pain in his feet and has had it since birth.

Max expresses, “Recognition feels good and it’s way better than people not knowing what Noonan’s is at all.” Max is helping make West a better environment. If we educate others, then people won’t feel left out or divided.  Spread the word and raise awareness for Noonan’s!

Works Cited

“About Noonan Syndrome.” Genome.gov, 23 Dec. 2013, www.genome.gov/Genetic-Disorders/Noonan-Syndrome.