A girl who does not age, 16 years old toddler

[Citizen X]

Well, what do you guys make of this?

"Why doesn't she age?" Howard Greenberg, 52, asked of his daughter. "Is she the fountain of youth?"

Such questions are why scientists are fascinated by Brooke. Among the many documented instances of children who fail to grow or develop in some way, Brooke's case may be unique, according to her doctor, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine pediatrician Lawrence Pakula, in Baltimore.

"Many of the best-known names in medicine, in their experience ... had not seen anyone who matched up to Brooke," Pakula said. "She is always a surprise."

Source

I've been looking around the internet to see if this is a hoax, but apparently it isn't. Her case has been known for some four or so years.

It's quite interesting, to say the least... still, poor girl. I wonder what goes through her mind.

 

[Artifice Orisit]

Sure she isn't developing and so may never physically mature, but I doubt she's going to live very long. I also suspect her brain cells are actively dividing and dying, with every cell lost the memories and inter-cellular connections made are also lost, effectively it's like someone hitting the restart button on a computer, again and again.

Underdeveloped, immortal, or the living dead, take your pick.

 

[walfin]

I doubt she's going to live very long.

I beg to differ. Look at all the illnesses she managed to overcome. Probably because her cells are continuously dividing and regenerating.

But her parents. Imagine raising a baby for 16 years. That's just so...mind blowing.

But imagine if she could talk. And if she had the mental capacity of a 16 year old. While physically being a baby. That'd be even freakier.

 

[Fedayeen]

I wonder what goes through her mind.

Well she has the mental capacity of a toddler, so I'd guess it is the same stuff going through a toddlers head

Sure she isn't developing and so may never physically mature, but I doubt she's going to live very long. I also suspect her brain cells are actively dividing and dying, with every cell lost the memories and inter-cellular connections made are also lost, effectively it's like someone hitting the restart button on a computer, again and again.

Underdeveloped, immortal, or the living dead, take your pick.

Well she has already survived 16 years, and they made no mention of her not lasting.

Though it is living in another sense of the then we are used to

 

[Citizen X]

Though it is living in another sense of the then we are used to

Hence me wondering what's going on inside that little head of hers. She's definitely unusual, I had never heard of anything like that. It's a whole different mode of life.

 

[Fedayeen]

with a stunted brain I doubt she can properly process her situation

 

[Tyria]

I feel bad for her. To be trapped as a toddler for your life... not what I would have in mind when the phrase "eternal youth" springs to mind. Who will take care of her if she continues to age? Her parents will not be around forever.

 

[Fedayeen]

I feel bad for her. To be trapped as a toddler for your life... not what I would have in mind when the phrase "eternal youth" springs to mind. Who will take care of her if she continues to age? Her parents will not be around forever.

At least she will maintain her innocence of the world

 

[fullerene]

I feel bad for her. To be trapped as a toddler for your life... not what I would have in mind when the phrase "eternal youth" springs to mind. Who will take care of her if she continues to age? Her parents will not be around forever.

I was thinking about that, too. What if her siblings took over the job? And then their kids?

Also--that picture of her didn't look like a baby who had just popped out of the womb. I don't think the article said (don't quite remember), but did she age that first year or two and then suddenly stop? Or has she been aging at a very slow, constant rate the whole time? If it's the second one, she might just have to wait it out with a few generations of her family's descendants, before she's old enough to take care of herself.

 

[JoeJoe]

@crypt: In the video they said that she stopped growing at the age of 5.

 

[Tyria]

At least she will maintain her innocence of the world

At the cost of not being able to be out of diapers? That's a pretty steep price to pay... not being independent for ignorance I mean. I couldn't stand it, knowing independence as I do now. If I hadn't experienced it, then it would be all that I know. But at the same time, I don't think that she can appreciate her innocence of the world. That's my own judgment call on that issue though...

 

[fullerene]

ahh thanks, joejoe. I only read the article--didn't watch the movie.

 

[Agent Intellect]

 

[Halcyon]

Lol in response to the notion that eternal youth would be a never-before-seen miracle, someone commented "You may note in the bible people once lived to be just under 1,000 years. The change came to be at Noah's flood"

 

[Toad]

Wow that is amazing. If doctors could figure it out, maybe they can make us young and beautiful forever...probably not live forever though.

 

[Waterstiller]

That's amazing.

 

[Reverse Transcriptase]

But if scientists can isolate the gene responsible, not only could they activate it for us (after we've already developed- so maybe we can stay forever 21 ) but they'd also be able to turn it off for Brooke. She'd be able to grow up! And wouldn't that just be fucking bizarre to grow up after a multi-decade infanthood? It'd be really interesting to see how she'd develop differently, if at all, not to mention immensely satisfying for the parents and sisters.

 

[Atriamax]

ITs too bad she didn't stop aging at 18 or so, now that would be interesting.
also i wonder what her learning / memory capacity is. Even with an undeveloped brain, i wonder how much you could stuff it with.

 

[Yellow]

It kinda sucks that I, and just about everyone else jumps to "how can we exploit this". I almost feel guilty... Anywhoo, they talk as if they think that only one gene mutation is responsible for this phenomenon. If it were as simple as that, wouldn't it have been seen before? Assuming it is, and we don't seem to have anything quite like this on record, then wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that it is usually a fatal mutation? If it is not usually a fatal mutation, then my money is on: it is a very complex series of mutations that have interacted to form this result, in which case I highly doubt it is duplicatable. Either way I hold out little hope for this to produce anything but a slightly broadened knowledge of genetics.


P.S. I realize that this is an old post, but it is just so darned interesting.

 

[travelnjones]

Its very sad to me, to never grow up. I remember this one time I almost died. I was in the hospital and was way out of it. i would wake up for a couple of seconds then fall asleep for a minute or two. I just keep noticing the clock move and I was so angry and scared at what was going on. I couldnt imagine not having the ability to think and be in control of my mind.

 

[Zero]

I saw this on TLC. Isn't it like a growth hormone deficiency of some sort? It freaked me out. I would hate to live like that and never grow mentally. I would be surprised if she outlived normal people. Deficiencies have a tendency to result in difficulties at some point or another. She's already had some strange issues probably related to this.

I wouldn't look at this as if it were a fountain of youth or some kind of "cure death and aging". It might be exciting to some, but it's also rather mystical. No humans in recorded history have lived thousands of years or stopped aging.

 

[Cobra]

I see an unexploited market for toy humans, guys; not the fountain of youth.

 

[Adymus]

It's not so much that she has the personality of a 16 year old, but that 16 year olds have the personality of 9 month olds.

 

[aracaris]

I'm not an expert on aging, or even anywhere close, but going by what I've heard on the subject.
Aging and maturing tend to get confused, but they aren't exactly the same thing. Even if this girl never grows up, I highly doubt it's the case that she isn't actually aging. Aging involves damage that accumulates over the course of a person's existence. Just not maturing won't make her any less prone to the cellular damage that occurs over time (thus resulting in aging). Thus unless this comes along with some sort of impressive regenerative ability (baby Wolverine, I don't think so) she'll one day be old and decrepit like the rest of us (assuming that this disorder doesn't lead to premature death) thanks to accumulated cellular damage, she just either won't be mature ever (could end up being a baby with wrinkles) or perhaps will mature late in life is all.
Maybe someone can explain this better than I.

 

[Cobra]

If you read the article, it talks about how her body isn't aging as a unit. Her bone marrow results show that of a 10-year-old, skin - another younger age, etc.

So... really, she isn't aging. At least not quickly. The confoundedness among doctors on the issue of this person's aging (or lack thereof) is not at all about how mature she is.

 

[transformers]

I read about this a couple of years ago. It's pretty strange, I wonder what is going on in her mind? Whether it's developed at all or whether it's still at the stage of a toddler.

 

[aracaris]

If you read the article, it talks about how her body isn't aging as a unit. Her bone marrow results show that of a 10-year-old, skin - another younger age, etc.

So... really, she isn't aging. At least not quickly. The confoundedness among doctors on the issue of this person's aging (or lack thereof) is not at all about how mature she is.

But unless I missed it, it doesn't say anything about how she's weathering the sort of damage that a body normally undergoes over time, which it may be too early in her life to tell anyhow, and until they can prove if she is in fact suffering less damage over time, or healing it more quickly and better, then they can't really prove she isn't aging in that sense every bit as quickly as anyone else.

I think when they talk about aging they are really talking about growth, not the element of aging which is the body suffering the various slings and arrows of time, leading to your body eventually breaking down.

Anyhow so far I see no evidence in that article she will live any longer than anyone else (and again wouldn't be surprised if her life span is shorter), just that her body is developing differently.

 

[typondis]

Never mind, due to the combination of layout color and link color (I'm used to blue), I totally missed the link.

 

[Architectonic]

I think when they talk about aging they are really talking about growth, not the element of aging which is the body suffering the various slings and arrows of time, leading to your body eventually breaking down.

The correct term is development. Her body has been developing at different rates (presumably due to a hormonal regulation disease). But this is not the same as not aging - indeed her cells have been replicating just as much and she will not live longer than an average human (actually I'd bet $1000 that she will die before achieving the average live expectancy age for her generation).

 

[aracaris]

Yes, development, that was the word I was looking for, just didn't come to me immediately for whatever reason.

 

[shoeless]

It's not so much that she has the personality of a 16 year old, but that 16 year olds have the personality of 9 month olds.

HA HA HA. AHA HA HA. HA. YOU'RE SO FUNNY.




dude, it's so baffling to think this girl was born the same year as me -- and is actually, in fact, a couple months older than me. freaky shit.

but yeah, i can't imagine she'll live longer than our projected life expectancy. whatever she has should be treated as a condition, or an illness or whatever, and even some of the freaky illnesses that make people seem like superheroes (ever seen the guy with super stretchy skin? yeah.) always have something going on in the background that's slowly destroying their bodies. or quickly destroying their bodies. but obviously here it seems slow.

also, is anybody studying the parents? they're the ones that made her. they should be almost as much of a focal point as she is, as far as i'm concerned.

 

[Atriamax]

Originally posted by shoeless
also, is anybody studying the parents? they're the ones that made her. they should be almost as much of a focal point as she is, as far as i'm concerned.

Not necessarily. Could easily be a mutation of a gene, after all we wouldn't be here
without mutations

 

[adso1980]

At least she will maintain her innocence of the world

Wow, my first thought was "in 2 years this girl could have a great career doing fetish pr0n"

 

[shoeless]

that's... really not funny. sorry, man.