Kylee Whitcher, 11, and mom Jen Cole smile in New York. Cole has always been open about her daughter's rare condition, known as AIS.
No one has lied to 11-year-old Kylee Whitcher. She's part of a new generation of girls with AIS who not only know everything about their male DNA, they're completely comfortable talking about it.
"I don't have ovaries, which I have to have in order to have a child," Whitcher said nonchalantly, "and I don't have a uterus, and I don't have fallopian tubes -- but really, I look like any other girl."
Whitcher's mom, Jen Cole, was honest with her daughter from the beginning, in an age-appropriate manner.
"I just told her that she was special," Cole said, "and had to adopt other people's babies that don't have mommies and daddies."
Whitcher was just 3 years old when, during a surgery to repair a hernia, doctors discovered her internal testicles. Cole admitted that it scared her at first. But after doing some research, she realized that "it wasn't that big of a deal."
It's taken more than 20 years, but Atwood is finally more comfortable talking about her long-kept secret. She shared it with Bruce Anderson, who eventually married her. But Atwood says the lies told to her about her AIS gave her intimacy issues; she and Bruce eventually divorced.
They have, however, remained close. In fact, Anderson is still often found in the kitchen, making meals with Ben, the 4-year-old son they adopted as an infant.
Thanks to hormone therapy, this woman -- with male chromosomes and no womb -- was actually able to breast-feed. Atwood said it was an incredible act that "sewed up some of the Swiss cheese of [her] soul.
"I check the box every time it comes up: Male or Female? Female, " she said confidently. "But only because the box is there."
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