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Two-year-old Juliette Marie was diagnosed with Hurler syndrome, a rare inherited metabolic disorder in which a person cannot break down long chains of sugar molecules called glycosaminoglycans, while living with her family in Puerto Rico. Marie received a bone marrow transplant, of which her brother Gabriel was the donor, and treatment at University of Minnesota Children's Masonic Hospital. They returned home to Puerto Rico after the successful transplant only to have their home partially destroyed by Hurricane Maria. They returned to Minnesota and are living in the Ronald McDonald House while continuing enzyme treatment and other therapies at the University of Minnesota Children's Masonic Hospital.
Leila Navidi has worked as a staff photographer for the Star Tribune since 2014. She worked at the Las Vegas Sun from 2007-2013.
leila.navidi@startribune.com612-673-4840