Supatra herself insists her condition is just ‘who I am’, adding that she ‘does not even think about’.
Supatra is one of just 50 known sufferers of Ambras Syndrome – caused by a faulty chromosome – to be documented since the Middle Ages. Before the disease was understood, sufferers were branded ‘werewolves.’
She has thick hair growing over her face, ears, arms, legs and back. Even laser treatment has failed to stop the hair growth.
But while most sufferers have been shunned, Supatra has gradually been embraced by her community, and became a popular and outgoing child.
She said: ‘There were a few people who used to tease me and call me monkey face but they don’t do it any more.
“I’m very used to this condition. I can’t feel the hair as it has always been like this. I don’t feel anything.
“It does sometimes make it difficult to see when it gets long.I hope I will be cured one day.”
“She gets along with others really well and is very generous. She has a lot of friends.”
In other ways Supatra is the same as other children her age – she loves swimming, dancing to her favourite music and playing with friends.
But more than anything, Supatra loves perching in front of the TV at her tiny one-bedroom family home in Pranakom, on the outskirts of Bangkok, to watch cartoons.
She said: “I like to watch anything on TV, whatever is, I like having it on. I like to watch Bugs Bunny.”
The bubbly little girl is also determined not to let her condition prevent her from leading a normal life.
She said: ‘I like to study maths so I can be good at it and teach it to younger children so they can do it too.
‘I want to become a doctor so I can help patients when they get injured.
‘I want to help people who get hurt and help cure people.”
Check more photos below:
Supatra with her family
Supatra in class
starred at by passerby-s
Supatra with classmates
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