A tiny teenager

Growing up, Gypsy looked frail. When she became a teenager, she was only about five feet tall. As far as anyone who knew her was concerned, she had been wheelchair-bound all her life. She was pale and skinny, and she had very delicate teeth which caused her pain and discomfort. She also had a feeding tube attached to her all the time. Dee Dee would always be seen dragging along an oxygen tank that was attached to Gypsy through a nasal cannula everywhere they went.

A desperately sickly child

According to Dee Dee, Gypsy had a long list of illnesses that plagued her since she was a baby, including muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, chromosomal defects, severe asthma, eye problems, sleep apnea, and even leukemia. She also said that Gypsy spent almost all of her infancy in neonatal intensive care.