http://www.local6.com/health/4485525/detail.html Syndrome Remains Undiagnosed BALTIMORE -- Imagine being frozen in time as a baby forever. It sounds impossible, but it describes Brooke Greenberg. The Baltimore-area girl may look like a baby, but she's nearly a teenager. In most respects, Brooke looks and acts like your average 6-month-old baby -- she weighs 13 pounds and she is 27 inches long. But Brooke is actually 12 years old, reported WBAL-TV in Baltimore. Brooke doesn't age. Her syndrome remains undiagnosed and unnamed, and as far as doctors can tell, she is the only one in the world who has it. Dr. Laurence Pakula has been Brooke's pediatrician since she was born. "In height, weight, she's 6 to 12 months," Pakula said. "If you ask any physician who knows nothing about her, the response is that she is maybe a handicapped 2-year-old." Her body may not be aging, but Brooke's health is deteriorating. She is fed through a tube, and she's had strokes, seizures, ulcers, severe respiratory problems and a tumor the size of a lemon. The four times Brooke has come dangerously close to death, she bounced back and no one knows why. Pakula points out that the girl has a strong sense of self and of sibling rivalry. Brooke has no language skills, but she does have enough motor skills to pull herself up in her crib or scoot across the kitchen floor. Pakula said Brooke has thrived because of the support of her parents and three sisters. "When one sees how much she has accomplished, it's a wonderful reminder that even for someone who's limited, it's a wonderful world out there," Pakula said. As genetic research expands, scientists might be able to learn the secrets of this little girl. But until then, it is Brooke who is doing the teaching.
This is an extremely touching story. I'm surprised that as advanced medicine is that someone didn't find some sort of nutrient or hormonal deficiency.
Wow, that is crazy. Maybe she'll be the key to finding an aging gene we can turn on and off. Hope they find a way to help her.
I've heard of this the other way around. Went to junior high with a guy who had the body of an elderly person. Never heard of it this way.
Yea, that disease is called progeria. I could not even begin to imagine how tough it would be to have a child that has that or this thing that affects Brooke Greenberg.
I've heard of cases like this where the person never passes puberty but I haven't heard of someone remaining a baby. Then again there are a lot of people who have the bodies of adults but still have the brains of babies. Just check out the GARM and D & D for a few examples.
This is probably only the first documented case. A lot of rare syndromes would have resulted in an early death and gone relatively unnoticed. Modern medicine is now able to keep those alive longer that would have normally already died. As a parent of a child that is currently being looked at having cerebral palsy, I feel for the parents. You feel helpless sometimes when the only help you can give your child is love. You always wish for magic wand to make them well.
I don't know much about your situation... only what you just posted... but: my favorite roommate in college had cerebral palsy. She was super smart and, while she walked and talked differently (and a little slower, which some people may not have had patience with), she was able to do normal activities: driving a car, holding a campus-wide elected office, dating, etc. She had a few more medical problems than average. She got a Ph.D. in neuroscience and last I heard is doing postdoctoral research at Columbia. So, even if this does happen to your child or the child of other people you have come to know, there is still plenty of hope. With this particular disability, it varies a lot from person to person.
