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| No, that is not Brad Pitt's stunt double on the set of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. That is actually a real picture of a young boy with a rare disorder called progeria. |
Only 1 in every 8,000,000 (that’s eight million) people are diagnosed with progeria (out of the entire world’s population). Progeria is an illness which starts fairly early in childhood and causes accelerated aging. The normal stages of aging that “standard” human beings experience over the course of their lives are all reached within a few years in a child with progeria. The boy above, for example, is roughly around the age of ten (give or take a couple years), but he resembles a man well into his eighties. Every one year lived by a child which progeria is equivalent to ten years of aging (progeriainfo.weebly.com).
Sadly, children with progeria rarely live past their teen years; however, there have been cases where patients have lived up to 30 years. Progeria does not directly cause death, but because of the severe case of aging, there are many problems related to the heart, one of which is usually the fatality-causer.
Scientists are still unaware of the cause of progeria, and because there is no known cause for it, there is no way to protect against or prevent it.
As one can imagine, living with progeria, and living with a loved one diagnosed with progeria, is tremendously difficult. If you would like to learn more about this disease, you can follow this link to find out about current research going on and become more informed.
I think this is very interesting and I like your blog because of its medical direction. I am interested in diseases and medication and I think your blogs are great.
ReplyDeleteI have heard of this disease however I did not know the name and specific details but have seen pictures like the one above. It is a terrible disease and I cannot help but think of the movie "Jack" in which Robin Williams' character has a similiar disease. The movie was sad and for real people who have this disease it is unfortunate that scientists do not know more about the disease. With our technology hopefully we will figure out a treatment or even a cure.
I have seen the movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and it is one of my favorites. It is sad to see a child be born that way, but for Benjamin he gets younger and lives a great life. As I read your post I noticed how you say children with progeria barely live past there teen years and that is absolutely heart breaking. I pray for anyone with any disease and pray that they live happy lives regardless of their situation. You have really interesting posts and I have really enjoyed reading them.
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