First here's a 16 year old girl with Progeria: (its on you tube so watch it at home)
Asheley:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D4S3pDjPiU
And here's:
Hayley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gldpvW0iWLQ
So what is progeria?
Its where you age prematurely.
You age about 8 times faster than a normal person. So if your a 10 year old boy, you would have the body of an 80 year old man.
The problem with this is that you encounter a variety of age related illness if you have the body of an 80 year old.
Here are some symptoms:
Shrunken wrinkled face
Baldness
No eyebrows or eyelashes
Dry thin skin
Swollen stiff joints
limited range of movement
Here's a diagram
Other more concerning issues:
Stroke
Heart enlargement( is a symptom of a defective heart and can also lead to a heart attack)
High blood pressure
Heart failure
Atherosclerosis (plaque blocking the main arteries, this prevents blood flow to the heart, can result in a heart attack)
Basically you die of old age, when your not old. The average are of death for a child with Progeria is 13.
I swear I would go on about why Progeria happens (it has to do with genetics), however when I looked it up I didn't fully understand why. I think you would need first year biology to really get whats going on.
Cure??
At one point there was no cure for progeria, the best you could do is to monitor their heart regularly and give them medication according to their current condition.
However
Recently (last year!!!) they found about a drug called lonafarnib. It was originally made to treat cancer but is effective to treat the symptoms of Progeria.
My opinion:
Well its a terrible disease, the videos mention that kids who have Progeria get stared at. See I don't blame anyone for taking a second look, I think I would. Not in a mean way, Id probably just smile at them. I bet they feel really bad regardless of peoples intentions. Personally I'm concerned about their school life. I hope to god kids don't bully them, cuz you now kids are kind of dicks. I just think it would be scary to know your dying when you little. The nice thing though, some of the kids I read about seem to be living vivid fear-free lives and want to educate the public about Progeria. Also they have come with a working treatment so hopefully those kid will have lots of happy years to come. Because, they really they deserve some happy years.
This is something I've thought of but never really believed it was real. I cannot imagine what it would be like to grow up and age so quickly. I think it must be terribly hard not "living fast" and doing things that may be outrageous. It really just puts a time limit on your life and is something that must be going through their mind constantly. AS well, their mind would not be aged like their body, so it would be like a 10 year old in an 80 year olds body right? The child probably couldnt even fully grasp what was going on with them which would make it even scarier.
ReplyDeleteWell this seems like a devastating disorder, but like you said, life is still doable with it. It would really suck to know that you'll die of old age before you're even 20. It's good that they found ways of treating it, though, and that people with the disorder can still enjoy their lives. I guess since they know it's shorter, that makes them cherish every second of it, stares or no stares.
ReplyDeleteI think I've watched a few specials on TLC about this condition. The kids who have it seem so gentle and carefree, and that's such a great thing to see in people who are affected by a such a life altering disease. That's awesome that they've discovered a medication to treat the symptoms!
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