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Brave Shaun Tebbutt was once a rosy-faced little boy – until a mysterious virus made him look as care-worn as a wrinkly 70-year-old with sunken cheeks.

Despite a healthy appetite the 11-year-old cannot put weight on his upper body.

And he has been a target for cruel bullies who call him an alien, skinny or a freak.

But courageous Shaun today insists: “I want people to realise I’m normal and they shouldn’t judge others by the way they look.

“If people bully me or stare too much I try to act like I don’t care but it upsets me because it’s not my fault I have this.”

Shaun’s condition at first baffled doctors – but after two years they diagnosed “ultra-rare” acquired partial lipodystrophy.

(Image: Platform Press)

(Image: Platform Press) (Image: Platform Press)

It means his body has a ­problem making, using and storing fat. There are only 700 sufferers in the UK.

Their life expectancy can be lower because of the risk of diabetes and kidney problems.

Shaun is also one of few who don’t develop the illness at birth. It struck after his third birthday.

And it’s rare for it to affect only the upper half of the body.

“Having lipodystrophy makes me unique and special,” said Shaun.

“But it’s bad because it stops me doing things like swimming as I’m worried about what people think about how I look.

(Image: Platform Press)

“I love swimming but sometimes it makes me not want to go because so many people stare.

“It’s also bad because of how I look and what it can do inside my body.

“Because I’m so skinny my skin hurts sometimes, if it’s really hot or really cold outside.”

Parents Joanne, 46, and Brian, 48, felt helpless as their little boy got thinner.

Joanne said: “Shaun was bonny when he was born – ­perfect in every way.

“We couldn’t believe what we were seeing. It was like I closed my eyes and my little boy had turned into an old man overnight. Suddenly he was more like a 70-year-old.

(Image: Platform Press)

“It’s still a mystery how Shaun got ­lipodystrophy. No one else in our family ever had it. They think it was viral but can’t pinpoint an exact virus or cause.”

One clue is that he had chronic constipation as a baby and needed a stoma tube in his abdomen.

“At every appointment I still ask doctors if there is a cure,” said Joanne. “They just say, ‘One day, we hope.’”

Despite looking gaunt, Shaun is always hungry because without fat cells his body produces less of the ­hormone leptin, which tells the brain the body has had enough to eat.

(Image: Platform Press)

Joanne said: “He’s been called things like alien, skinny or freak by children who don’t know better.

“I get ­strangers ­telling me I need to feed my child, like they think I would starve him.

“We went in to a shop when he was younger and the shopkeeper barked, ‘He needs feeding up, doesn’t he?’ Once a dentist cleared the room to ask me if he was anorexic. I laughed. If only he knew how much Shaun eats!”

(Image: Platform Press)

Shaun’s strength of character has made the family, from Wootton, Beds, closer.

Joanne said: “Thankfully he has always had the most positive, upbeat personality which he still has today.

“Shaun’s courage helps all of us cope. And to me, he is still perfect in every way.”