Brooke Greenberg, 12, weighs 13 pounds and is 27 inches long. Posted on 05/13/2005 10:41:01 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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.
Brooke Greenberg, 12, weighs 13 pounds and 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.
Bingo.
There's no way this has never happened before.
That is too strange.
25 for males... 17 for females... lol
We can always go find a nice breastfeeding-in-public thread . . . that's bound to help your headache!
I had a cousin with whatever disease this is. He was 12 or something when he died but looked and acted like a slow 2 year old. It was quite sad although he was a good kid.
RIP
I hope this little girl never finds herself in the jurisdiction of George Greer.
Perhaps she is but one of the 4400!
The fountain of youth definitely exists in this girl, now the challenge will be to harness it without the side effects she's unfortunately experiencing.
They had those "old kids" on Opra some time ago. They had the exact opposite problems, they were 8- 12 years old but aged and looked like 50-70 year old dwarfs.
Has anyone brought up abortion yet?
(seems to be on the list of auto-responses ;) )
512 years old.
Heh, heh. I must admit, I felt guilty doing it. ;)
No, my cousin had something like this girl. When I was a kid I just figured he was mentally retarded or something, but then my parents said "no, he has some disease where he doesn't age". He might have also been slightly retarded too but I don't know. He died a few years ago and I think he was 12 or something, I'm not sure. As I said he was alright. It must have been a strain on his parents, I felt bad for them after I knew.
Yeah, I'll bet researchers are clamoring to get a look at her. Very strange, that's for sure. You've got to wonder if her cells are actually not aging (which is very, very hard to believe), or if it's just a case of profound arrested development.
Yeah, those are a lot of fun. lol
Not every medical condition is that of a person whose brain died and turned into a puddle. Terri died in 1990. Brains do not grow back. If the outcome of the autopsy was contrary to that, we would have heard the screaming long ago. Give it a rest already.
But you enjoyed every minute of it!
"(obviously some kind of genetic disorder)"
I'm not sure anything's obvious about this case. Who knows, maybe something she ingested when she was six months old triggered a severe brain malfunction.
Give the lies a rest already.
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