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My dwarfism, Marquette Syndrome, type A, is very rare
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It is every one in 200,000 births. It leaves me to be three foot tall
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My biggest motto in life, don't even try and stop me. My relationship with my brother is really amazing
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We're just two peas in a pod. She's very inspiring and encouraging
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We kind of just feed off each other's energy to be better. The biggest thing that affects me is when people talk down to me
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Obviously I'm a woman. The word **** is just a very negative word
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This is my scooter. My grandfather lowered the handle and lowered the seat so that I could just plop myself in it
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Hi, my name is Carly Runke. We are at my home in New Jersey
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And what was the other question? My biggest motto in life, don't even try and stop me
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My dwarfism, Marquee syndrome, type A, is very rare. It is every one in 200,000 births
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It leaves me to be three foot tall. We were in the mix of redoing the kitchen
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My parents were nice enough to add the kitchen in for me
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so I could reach and make things myself and pour myself a drink when I want one
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The biggest thing that affects me is when people talk down to me
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because yeah they say I'm three foot tall but obviously I'm a woman I don't look like a toddler
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I don dress like a toddler or when they use the word a lot of people in the little people world we refer to the M word It just a very negative word
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This is actually the weekly infusion medicine that I get each week
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My nurse comes and she puts these little bottles into a bag and I get my enzyme replacement therapy
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Life has been different. I just know how to deal with it and live with it myself
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I've had surgeries. I do enzyme replacement therapy. I do what I have to do
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I take care of myself. Growing up, it was definitely different. You know, we always wanted to make sure that my siblings, their stuff still came first
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You know, make life normal. I've had stares. My siblings know that this is what happens
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And, you know, when you see someone as you ordinary, people are going to look
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My relationship with my brother is really amazing. He's someone that will always include me and pushes me to be my best
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We're four years apart, so early on, you know, I didn't really notice any differences
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And then the first time that it probably really hit me was when she had her first major surgery when she was two and a half
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I guess that was the first time for me that I realized, like, things were different. As she got older and we started going to, like, her National Little People events and things like that
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it became a very cool thing because we got to see this whole other world that most people are not exposed to
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We're just two peas in a pod. I couldn't ask for a better brother. So Miss Carly
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Yes. We gonna try on a couple of dresses today Okay What do you think of this I like them I done a lot of fashion shows When they first met me they were like oh my gosh I don know what kind of dress I going to put her in Because you know I three foot tall
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That's, you know, we got to alter things. It makes things look right at my body
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All right, Ms. Carly, you ready? Yeah. All right. Let's see what you think of this one
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What would you give this on a 1 to 10? I'd give this an 11
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An 11. We love that confidence, don't we? Yeah. Is this slit too high
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No. It's not high enough. It's not high. You could always do a silver or a black shoe
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Either would work. Probably black. Yeah, you wanna do black? Okay, perfect
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Hey, Ed, we need your help. About 10 years ago, Carly came into my shop
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My first thought was, wow, this is gonna be a challenge. That was the first five minutes
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What has happened since then has been an amazing friendship. I always tell her she is my biggest, littlest inspiration
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I would say I was a little protective. She had some bullying issues
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typical kids picking on somebody that's different. So I felt like I always would try and have my friends
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keeping an eye out for her, different people keeping an eye out for her in school. I have a little bit of a gut here
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because my organs are the average size of another 25-year-old. It all has got to push down here
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So sometimes I'm just like, oh, I look like I'm pregnant or I look like I'm fat
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But at the end of the day I try to see the positive When I was in kindergarten someone called me a chicken nugget and I was very offended by that Now I think it funny but five Carly was not okay with it If you watching
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this, hi, chicken nuggets right here. I'm excited about doing a catwalk. Hopefully the weather
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stays nice. Walking on a runway and getting dressed up makes me feel more confident
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Carly just can never blend because of her size, even with little people, because she is about a
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but smaller than your average little person. Beauty comes in all sizes and shapes
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and Carly is the perfect example of that. She brings in a very positive attitude
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for somebody that has had a lot of setbacks in life. Day to day, I'll use that as encouragement for myself
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Today was a really exciting day. The dress shop is always a great experience
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Kat and Brandon always put me in the best dresses, and I'm very fortunate for that
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and I always make sure I look my best. She's very inspiring and encouraging
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We kind of just feed off each other's energy to be better. Definitely one thing that was a little bit more difficult
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walking on the boardwalk was walking on heels. As you can tell, the heels are off
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That is not happening right now, but the show still goes on
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Be yourself. Be 100% who you are. If you want to walk the runway on the boardwalk
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walk the runway on the boardwalk. I just did that, and I don't care who saw me
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I love me for who I am
