Although all babies are fragile, one Manitoba boy is so delicate a mere sneeze can cause him to break a bone.

Kyler Spence, who is one and a half years old, has a disease called Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) or Brittle Bone Disease. People with this disease have bones that break easily, often for little or no apparent reason.

In his lifetime Kyler has fractured 15 bones that his family knows of – some fractures can’t be seen in X-rays because they are micro-fractures. 

“He’s like a little glass baby,” said his mother Danielle Boushey.

“For a long time I couldn’t hold him because he was so fragile.”

But Boushey said she has now developed a way to pick up and dress her son, but she has to be careful, because even the littlest things can cause a bone to break.

“He could be just laughing. He could break from sneezing, coughing, anything,” she said.

According to Dr. Celia Rodd, a clinician scientist and pediatric endocrinologist, on average one baby is born with OI a year in Manitoba. Ninety per cent of these babies don’t have a family history of the disease and some forms are more serious than others.

“Some of the children with the very mild form may never know that they have this problem. They may have a couple of fractures in their life and never know that they have that because it’s never a big impact,” said Rodd. 

Soon Kyler and his family are heading to Montreal for a surgery to help straighten his bones, in hopes that he will get strong enough to stand and walk on his own.

But despite his weak bones, Boushey said that Kyler is very strong.

“He’s like the happiest kid ever. He doesn’t really cry…He’ll always give us a smile to let us know he’ll be OK.”