A unique love relationship between a man and a woman with a rare medical condition made them unable to smile.
Alex Barker, 45, and Irene Smith, 8, are suffering from Mobius Syndrome, a rare condition that causes cranial paralysis, meaning that sufferers can not draw any facial expressions.
The rare condition also affects the patient's ability to speak, and even when he shakes his eyes, he finds it difficult to even blink. This is so rare that 250 people in Britain and less than 1,000 worldwide suffer from them, according to the British newspaper Mirror.
Alex, from Coventry, UK, knows Irene, who lives in North Carolina, is on a social networking site for people who have the same condition.
Although they met only 4 times, they both fell in love with each other and decided to get married.
Because Alex and Irene can not smile or express their feelings with traditional facial movements, they have created a set of signals that compensate for them.
Speaking to a specialist who has been studying this condition for many years, Khatiban recently talked about the possible future transmission of the disease to their children. Dr. Jonathan Cole said that parents' involvement in the disease increases their likelihood of being transferred to children, but this did not prevent them from moving ahead with marriage plans.