ELLENSBURG — The source of strength and encouragement for Debbie Ezell and Willie Adams as they deal with their son’s serious medical problems is their son — Brenden Adams — himself.

Brenden, 12, of Ellensburg struggles from a rare chromosome disorder that has caused him, since 4 months old, to grow abnormally fast. He now is 7-feet tall and is at 220 pounds.

He’s also developed a heart condition and a bleeding disorder, and tumors have been found on his brain stem and on a leg. He has related dental, skeletal, joint, jaw and mobility complications.

“Normally it’s the parents who always have to be strong in these situations, but it’s Brenden who helps us hold up; it’s because of him we’re coping,” said Debbie last week. “He’s been the encouragement for our two families in all this.”

Willie agrees.

“He takes everything in stride, one day at a time, and doesn’t complain,” Willie said. “The surgeries, the pain, all the trips to the doctors and specialists and all the tests upon tests — they don’t bother him. He’s almost never down, he’s always upbeat.

“He almost never will tell you when he’s sick or hurting or when something’s wrong. He’d rather try to fix it himself.”

There has never been a diagnosis for Brenden’s condition as it developed through the years because there has been no other case reported with the exact, same problems.

To his parents’ knowledge, Brenden is likely the only one documented to date in the medical world with the disorder: a pericentric-inverted 12th chromosome. Debbie said specialists believe a chromosome detached in his early development, broke in half, inverted and reattached.

It’s the chromosomes in each cell that contain the unique biological blueprint that guides how each human body develops and grows.

A kid

Although Brenden’s body has developed in dramatically different ways creating a host of health problems, his parents say he’s just like any other 12-year-old kid down deep.

Ask Brenden how he copes and he answers matter of factly in few words, like any 12-year-old boy who’d rather be doing something fun than answering a stranger’s questions.

“I don’t know, exactly,” said Brenden about dealing with his life’s challenges. “I guess if I’m down for some reason I tell myself that tomorrow is another day. I can start all over again. That helps me. And hanging out with my friends and just being happy with them.”

Brenden has two families in town and stays with each a week at a time: his mother, Debbie Ezell, and stepfather Sam Ezell, and his father, Willie Adams, and stepmother Julie Adams. Each couple has children, too, who love and accept Brenden.

He’s also accepted by his sixth-grade classmates at Morgan Middle School. Teacher Gretchen Holmstrom has Brenden for three periods.

“He’s a delight to me and all the kids in class,” Holmstrom said. “He’s got a lovely spirit that just flows. He’s accepted who he is.”

Holmstrom said she’s impressed with how his classmates and all those in the school accept and respect Brenden.

“They see him for who he is and treat him just like any other kid,” Holmstrom said.

Holmstrom said she’s 5-feet-9 inches tall and is not used to looking up to the sixth graders under her care. She said she has to remind herself, at times, that Brenden is a 12-year-old.

“Sometimes he puts on that impish grin and is playful and teasing in a gentle way,” Holmstrom said. “It’s that sweet spirit that impresses me.”

A gift

Debbie said Brenden’s ability to be at peace with the unknowns of his future health, and yet keep a good attitude about his problems and the coming need for surgeries makes him special, unique and not just like any kid.

He has a quiet determination within himself to keep going, Debbie said, when it would be easy to be discouraged and depressed.

“Brenden has a gift, that way,” Debbie said.

Brenden said not many things get him down, although he’d like to not have any more surgeries. Yet, knowing they’re coming, Brenden said he doesn’t want them on his birthday or in summer when he wants to ride his bike.

“I’m sort of, well, I’m always mentally and physically happy all the time, I guess,” Brenden said.