The Girl Who Can’t Feel Pain

From scratches on the playground to spills while biking, parents are constantly trying to protect their children from pain. But what if pain was the one thing your child needed the most? While Ashlyn Blocker may seem like a normal 12-year-old girl who loves pageants and playing the clarinet, she suffers from a rare genetic disorder that prevents her from feeling pain. Ashlyn was born with a congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA), a disorder that affects the way signals travel from her central nervous system. Unlike most babies, she never cried when she was hungry or had diaper rash.