A 5-year-old girl has a disease that is so rare, only 200 people in the world have been diagnosed with it. It’s called Leukodystrophy, a “congenital hypomyelination”, and it’s a neurological disease that actually attacks the white matter in the brain.

This makes it difficult for Lexi [Drumm]’s brain to communicate with other parts of her body, Drumm told the newspaper.

Lexi was born healthy and could even walk and talk up until she was 14-months-old. That’s when she had a seizure and “everything deteriorated from then on,” Drumm said.

Now the disease has started attacking white matter on Lexi’s brain stem and she is unable to move her head and eyes. She can still control her smile.

“I could be in the worst mood possible, and that little smile can still perk me up,” Drumm said.

An alarming new study shows that the number of pregnant women with pre-existing diabetes has increased more than 100% in the last 7 years. The condition causes a risk to both the mother and baby:

Expectant mothers who don’t control their diabetes face an increased risk of miscarriage and stillbirth. Their babies have a higher chance of being born with birth defects.

“These are high-risk pregnancies,” said Dr. Florence Brown, an expert on pregnancy and diabetes. “All women with pre-existing diabetes need to plan their pregnancies.”

Brown is co-director of the Joslin-Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center diabetes and pregnancy program in Boston. She had no role in the study, which was done by researchers at Kaiser Permanente, a California-based health care provider.

A 7-year-old from Long Island, New York is in a coma after being struck by a car after he had made a purchase from an ice cream truck. We had a near miss ourselves as kids chasing after those siren song chimes, so we know how this can happen.

Javier Reyes remains in critical condition at Stony Brook University Medical Center.

The boy’s stepfather tells Newsday in Monday editions that doctors noted the boy’s brain was swelling and that they intended to keep him sedated for 48 to 72 more hours.

The stepfather says Reyes was at his East Patchogue home Sunday when he ran out the door to chase after the ice cream truck before his mother could stop him. He was struck as he stepped from behind the truck. Police say it was an accident.

At least nine of the children taken from Warren Jeff’s polygamist sect have needed hospital care since taken into protective custody, and the children’s mothers are none too happy that they have not been informed of why, or how their kids are doing.

“We can’t seem to get anyone on the phone with authority to make that happen and the mothers don’t even know the seriousness of the situation,” said Amanda Chisholm, a TRLA attorney.

The legal aid society, which represents 48 mothers, said one 2-year-old child lost a severe amount of weight while staying at the San Angelo Coliseum.

TRLA said the organization was told two days ago that the child was in shock and lethargic, but has received no new information since then about where the child is or regarding her current health situation.

The mother is not being allowed to be with this child or her other nursing children, Chisholm said.

Miley Cyrus, pop sensation and star of the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana, says she’s embarrassed about provocative photos taken by Annie Leibovitz for Vanity Fair. Here’s one of the photos Miley is obviously referring to, which shows her topless with a sheet covering her chest. We certainly wouldn’t be too thrilled with our 15-year-old daughter posing for a photo like that… Better keep an eye on that one, Billy Ray!

“I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be ‘artistic’ and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed,” Cyrus said in a statement her publicist released. “I never intended for any of this to happen and I apologize to my fans, who I care so deeply about.”

The 15-year-old Cyrus, daughter of country music star Billy Ray Cyrus, stars as an ordinary teenager with a double life as a rock star on the Disney Channel’s “Hannah Montana.” The channel says “Hannah Montana” is the top-rated cable television show for children aged 6 to 14, reaching more than 164 million viewers around the world.

Nice damage control there, Hannah!