In 2011, a 17-year-old Khadija Gayle gave birth to a baby boy. Soon enough, she began to realise that there was something wrong. 

King Jay, as the baby was lovingly called, began to lose his eyesight, his growth stunted and appearance aged. Jay began to show symptoms of a rare disease; Cockayne Syndrome.

It was a difficult path to tread for Khadija, as she believes her son’s case was the only one in Toronto at that time.

Khadija did all she could, through this testing time - battling a rare disease, that was left undiagnosed for a while.

Today, Khadija is trying to encourage dialogue and raise awareness amongst communities about this rare syndrome.

Produced by: Fatima Husain

Guest: Khadija Gayle

Research Contributor: Elesha Nicholls