The gods of New York City apparently responded by making it 90 degrees outside. Maria is 6 years old. She is a bright, vivacious girl who loves to play with dolls and care for her two kittens. She lives with her parents, two brothers and one sister on the outskirts of Quito, Ecuador. But in her zeal to consume the tasty treat, many times she and her siblings eat too fast, causing a brief, sharp pain in certain areas of the head.
Local doctors say there is nothing they can do.
Maria's mother must suffer in silence as she watches her young daughter wince, shake her head and quickly recover, running off to play with her friends. Mankind made such enormous strides in medicine in the 20th century, as age-old diseases such as polio were destroyed, and revolutionary procedures allowed us to transplant a human heart and zap cancerous tissue with lasers. It is not only in the Third World that children are suffering from this terrible condition. In America, it is estimated that nine out of every 10 children will be struck with an ice-cream headache at least once in their lifetime. This dreaded, insidious menace seems to strike most often in the summer months, catching us unawares at baseball games, birthday parties or at the beach.