Evan couldn't wait for school to begin. All summer long, he'd
looked forward to trying out for the basketball team. He'd be a
natural, everyone told him. At 14, he pretty much towered over
his classmates. But when the time came for his sports physical,
the doctor noticed some things about Evan that needed a closer
look. It wasn't just that Evan was really tall for his age — 6
feet and 1 inch, to be exact — but his arms, legs, and fingers
were very long and thin and his chest had kind of a caved-in
look. He also wore glasses for myopia (say: my-o-pee-uh), or
nearsightedness, which means he had trouble seeing things that
were far away. The doctor told Evan's parents that he couldn't
give Evan the OK to try out until he'd a few medical tests. Why?
Because the doctor suspected that Evan might have a disorder
called Marfan syndrome. What Is Marfan Syndrome? Named after
Antoine Marfan, the French doctor who discovered it in 1896,
Marfan syndrome is a disorder that affects the body's connective
tissue, which is foun