Darren's mother is from Cebu in the Philippines, and has Filipino, Chinese, and Spanish ancestry. Darren's father is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and has English, and some German and Northern Irish, ancestry.
Description. While dwarfism is sometimes used to describe achondroplasia, a condition characterized by short stature and disproportionately short arms and legs, it is also used more broadly to refer to a variety of conditions resulting in unusually short stature in both children and adults.
A dwarf is a person of short stature - under 4' 10 as an adult. More than 200 different conditions can cause dwarfism. A single type, called achondroplasia, causes about 70 percent of all dwarfism. Achondroplasia is a genetic condition that affects about 1 in 15,000 to 1 in 40,000 people. It makes your arms and legs short in comparison to your head and trunk. Other genetic conditions, kidney disease and problems with metabolism or hormones can also cause short stature. Dwarfism itself is not a disease.