Short in stature, big on charm

In 1997, Drake Taylor, 3, was one of fewer than 200 people in the world diagnosed with Majewski osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II. Unlike achondroplasia, the most common type of dwarfism, Drake’s limbs and other features were proportional. But he was shockingly smaller in stature – only about two feet tall and 11 pounds – than other children his age. And his high-pitched, squeaky voice always attracted attention. This didn’t stop him from expressing his energetic personality and charming everyone around him. In 2012, at the age of 18, Drake succumbed to Moyamoya disease, a narrowing of blood vessels at the base of the brain that restricts blood flow and leads to aneurysms. He was fully grown at 39 inches tall and 39 pounds.