Meet Two Sisters aged 9 and 14 who Look like Babies because of Rare Condition (Photos)

A mum of two has told how her daughters are battling a rare condition that means, at nine and 14, they're still the size of babies - weighing just 19kg between them.

Lola and Claire Hartley stand at just 5ft tall between them and cannot walk or talk despite the fact that they are nine and 14 years old. They can still fit in their mother Gwen's arms and the girls are often mistaken for babies.

Due to a rare genetic condition the pair are stuck in time.

Their  41-year-old mum, Gwen said they're just like any other girls their age and love to listen to rap music and watch TV shows about getting married.

"People forget that they're nearly ten and 15 because they're so small. Claire is 3ft tall and weighs 23lbs and Lola is 2ft and 12lbs. Some people react inappropriately. They don't understand and point, stare and make faces. They say, 'They're how old?' 

Others say, 'Oh my gosh, can I hold her?' and say how cute they are because I can hold them in my arms.
"Some see them like they're a religious experience, like they're holy or angelic.
But they're like any other girls, they like rap music and watch TV, and they have their own personalities. 

Claire is laid back and goes with the flow, while Lola is feisty and needy. She wants to be cuddled all the time."

After Claire was diagnosed with microcephaly, which is associated with a smallness of the head and incomplete brain development, at three months old, Gwen and her husband Scott, 40, were told that she would be unlikely to live to see her first birthday.

They were determined to give their daughter the best life they could though, feeding her a healthy diet to help her grow up strong and develop her brain.

And after they threw a huge party for her first birthday to celebrate what short life they thought she had left, Claire thrived - as did her sister Lola, born with same condition five years later.

The girls cannot walk or talk, they suffer from dwarfism and have visual impairment, meaning their parents interact with them using sensory toys in a darkened room.

Doctors warned that they would be unable to make any purposeful movements, but Mrs Hartley said she's seen Claire appear to push away her glasses.

They also both suffer daily seizures, but their mum has said they don't affect them negatively.

Praising her remarkable girls, their mum said:

"The girls have grown up in the same community and the community embrace the girls. They're like little celebs here. They're well known.
"Their brother, Cal, is really proud of them. He's never said he's sad that they are the way they are.
"When I was pregnant with Lola, and we weren't sure if she'd survive, he said, 'I don't care if she lives long, I just want to know her, even for a little bit."

 Follow Gwen's blog at www.thehartleyhooligans.com