Produced by the I Lab at W-B-U-R, Boston.

Welcome back to Kind World, a show about how an act of kindness can change a life.

I'm Yasminammer.

And I'm Andrea Aswahue.

So Yasmin, I know you've heard this before because I definitely have differences bring us together not

drive us apart yes yes and we're more alike than we are different yes of course yeah so

I think we're all a little jaded to that notion, but I've got a story for you that will dial back that cynicism and really showcase how having a shared difference actually helped a family. Andrew and Luke I have them down for 50 grams of sauce each.

Dinner at Christie and Matt Smith's home in Tucson, Arizona is always a bit of a production.

As their boys play and rabble rouse, the parents are meticulously measuring every ounce of

food that will go on their plates.

I'll just measure, I'll just wait.

Tonight, the Smiths are eating pasta with vegetables.

My favorite food growing up, probably still one of my favorites, is spaghetti.

However, it's not just run up to the grocery store, buy a box of spaghetti,

you know, and a jar of ragu.

Each box of pasta, Christie buys, is specially ordered and shipped cross-country,

costing about $12.

That's because she needs special low protein spaghetti. In fact, she needs

low protein everything. A glass of milk is actually one day's worth of my protein intake that my body can handle.

36 year old Christie has a rare genetic disorder called phenyl ketonuria or

PKU. People or PKU.

People with PKU can't break down a specific building block

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