Lizzie and her twin sister, Anna, Williams were both born with osteogenesis imperfecta, a medical condition where the bones are incredibly brittle and break or fracture easily.
Both sisters got it genetically from their mother, Jill, who has had the condition since birth.
Among the three of them – mother and daughters – they have fractured over 100 bones, including legs, arms, wrists, fingers, ribs, a skull, and a spine.
Lizzie, who clocks in with 60 broken bones, broke her spine when she was only nine years old. She’d been playing in their family lounge when she’d fallen and hurt her back – but she never realized that she’d actually fractured her spine. Lizzie simply thought it was chronic back pain.
By the time Lizzie went to get her back checked out by the doctors, she was 16 and had lived with a broken spine for seven years.
The fracture called for a four-hour surgery during which doctors installed metal rods and screws into Lizzie’s spine to bring it back to its rightful position.
Lizzie’s tendency to break bones has since forced her to remain in a wheelchair for most of her day-to-day activities.
Her sister, Anna, admires Lizzie for her resilience, “Lizzie has a strong and fierce attitude, which helped her live with her back pain. … If she breaks something, she is in more of a pickle than me, though, as she is the one in a wheelchair.”
But it’s evident that none of the women in the Williams family is letting their condition stop them from doing what they want.
Lizzie, despite being in a wheelchair, has become a wheelchair racer – voluntarily placing herself in situations where it’s even more likely for her to break bones.
Although Jill is well aware of the potential consequences of Lizzie’s choices, she understands her daughters’ ambition and chooses not to stop them from doing what they want, “People with brittle bone disease tend to have a real desire to achieve.”
Lizzie and Anna’s most recent achievement: contacting a “dream” fulfillment program for people with serious or life-limiting conditions and bringing their mother to New York to see the Niagara Falls.
“They are both amazing every day,” Jill said, “and the holiday was just magical.”
