06-28-2009, 10:28 AM
[YOUTUBE]efezzXguTew[/YOUTUBE]
Brooke Greenberg is a child in Baltimore, Maryland, who appears as though she never ages, appearing to be the age of a toddler or less, even though she was born in January of 1993. At about 16 lb (7.3 kg) and 30 inches (76 cm), Brooke has not aged significantly, physically or apparently cognitively, since she was a toddler.
According to ABC News:
Dr. Richard Walker of the University of South Florida College of Medicine, in Tampa, says Brooke's body is not developing as a coordinated unit, but as independent parts that are out of sync. She has never been diagnosed with any known genetic syndrome or chromosomal abnormality that would help explain why.
"There've been very minimal changes in Brooke's brain," Walker said. "Various parts of her body, rather than all being at the same stage, seem to be disconnected." Her brain, for example, is scarcely more mature than that of a newborn infant. She has an estimated mental age of around 9 months to a year old. She can make gestures and reconize sounds, but cannot speak. Her bones, although still abnormally short, are around 10 years old, as determined by the maturity of the cells and structures. And despite being a teenager, she still has her baby teeth, with an estimated developmental age of about eight years.
Brooke was born in January 1993, one month early and weighing only 1.8 kg (4 lb). She was born with a rare condition called anterior hip dislocation. Her legs were pushed forward awkwardly. Very early in her life, Brooke underwent surgery to correct this. At this point Brook appeared to be a normal infant.[3]
In her first six years, Brooke went through a series of medical emergencies from which she recovered, often without explanation. She survived surgery for seven perforated stomach ulcers. She suffered a seizure followed by what was diagnosed as a stroke that weeks later left no apparent damage. At age 4, she fell into a coma that caused her to sleep for 14 days. Then, doctors diagnosed a brain tumor. Later Doctors called that Brooke opened her eyes and had no tumor present. Brooke's doctor said the source of her sudden illnesses remains a mystery.
Over the next several years, the Greenbergs traveled from specialist to specialist looking for answers "They [the specialists] just said sheâll catch up. Then we went to the nutritionist, the endocrinlogoist. We tried the growth hormone," says Melanie, Brooke's mother. There was absolutely zero change. "I mean she did not put on an ounce or she did not grow an inch," says Howard. "Thatâs when I knew there was a problem."
In 2001, when "Dateline" documented Brooke, she was still the size of a six-month-old, weighing just 13 lb (5.9 kg) and was 27 inches (69 cm) long. The family still had no explanation. The doctors gave her condition the name "Syndrome X", an unknown, after growth hormone administration failed.
The Greenbergs made many vistis to nearby Johns Hopkins Childrenâs Center, and even took Brooke to New Yorkâs Mount Sinai hospital, looking for clues to their daughterâs condition.[3] When geneticists sequenced Brooke's DNA, they found that the genes associated with the premature-ageing diseases were normal, unlike the mutated versions in patients with Werner syndrome and progeria.
Brooke Greenberg is a child in Baltimore, Maryland, who appears as though she never ages, appearing to be the age of a toddler or less, even though she was born in January of 1993. At about 16 lb (7.3 kg) and 30 inches (76 cm), Brooke has not aged significantly, physically or apparently cognitively, since she was a toddler.
According to ABC News:
Dr. Richard Walker of the University of South Florida College of Medicine, in Tampa, says Brooke's body is not developing as a coordinated unit, but as independent parts that are out of sync. She has never been diagnosed with any known genetic syndrome or chromosomal abnormality that would help explain why.
"There've been very minimal changes in Brooke's brain," Walker said. "Various parts of her body, rather than all being at the same stage, seem to be disconnected." Her brain, for example, is scarcely more mature than that of a newborn infant. She has an estimated mental age of around 9 months to a year old. She can make gestures and reconize sounds, but cannot speak. Her bones, although still abnormally short, are around 10 years old, as determined by the maturity of the cells and structures. And despite being a teenager, she still has her baby teeth, with an estimated developmental age of about eight years.
Brooke was born in January 1993, one month early and weighing only 1.8 kg (4 lb). She was born with a rare condition called anterior hip dislocation. Her legs were pushed forward awkwardly. Very early in her life, Brooke underwent surgery to correct this. At this point Brook appeared to be a normal infant.[3]
In her first six years, Brooke went through a series of medical emergencies from which she recovered, often without explanation. She survived surgery for seven perforated stomach ulcers. She suffered a seizure followed by what was diagnosed as a stroke that weeks later left no apparent damage. At age 4, she fell into a coma that caused her to sleep for 14 days. Then, doctors diagnosed a brain tumor. Later Doctors called that Brooke opened her eyes and had no tumor present. Brooke's doctor said the source of her sudden illnesses remains a mystery.
Over the next several years, the Greenbergs traveled from specialist to specialist looking for answers "They [the specialists] just said sheâll catch up. Then we went to the nutritionist, the endocrinlogoist. We tried the growth hormone," says Melanie, Brooke's mother. There was absolutely zero change. "I mean she did not put on an ounce or she did not grow an inch," says Howard. "Thatâs when I knew there was a problem."
In 2001, when "Dateline" documented Brooke, she was still the size of a six-month-old, weighing just 13 lb (5.9 kg) and was 27 inches (69 cm) long. The family still had no explanation. The doctors gave her condition the name "Syndrome X", an unknown, after growth hormone administration failed.
The Greenbergs made many vistis to nearby Johns Hopkins Childrenâs Center, and even took Brooke to New Yorkâs Mount Sinai hospital, looking for clues to their daughterâs condition.[3] When geneticists sequenced Brooke's DNA, they found that the genes associated with the premature-ageing diseases were normal, unlike the mutated versions in patients with Werner syndrome and progeria.