The Young Soul Trapped In An Old Body

Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome, commonly known as Progeria or Aging disorder. As its name implies, babies born with this condition start to age at a very tender age and usually die at the age of 13 to 14.

Around the world, there are not many known cases of this disorder, affecting newborns at a rate of about 1 in 8million. Although Progeria is a genetic disorder, it is not inheritable.

Symptoms:

• The child will have normal appearance in early stage of infancy, symtoms start to surface at the age of 9 to 24 months.
• Growth delays, the child will have short stature, look smaller than children of the same age.
• Distinct facial appearences such as small faces, small jaws, huge heads, malformation of teeth, wrinkled skins, baldness.
• The affected child will develop similar respiratory, arthritic and cardiovascular conditions of an old person at later stage of the disorder.
• The growth of the affected child seems arrest and fast-forward at the same time in the same body. The child with the age of 10 will resemble the body size of a 3-yr-old, but the child will have the appearance of a 80-yr-old.

There is no treatment proven to be effective against this disorder. Sad to say, patients have difficulty living past the age of 13. There is a rare case of a Progeria patient living till the age of 21. Mentally, the affected child will be at his real age. Physically, he is growing at 8 times faster than normal kids!

Susana Lopez, is the oldest Progeria sufferer, 21-yr-old

Most of the affected children die of complications from the disorder, such as heart attack and stroke.