Little Gabby Williams weighs 11lbs – just a few pounds more than a newborn. She has the face of a baby, the body of a toddler and wears nappies. But Gabby is actually nine years old. As everyone around her ages, she has stayed the same. Gabby has a condition so rare that experts still haven’t given it an official name. She’s been dubbed the real-life Benjamin Button, because, like the film starring Brad Pitt, Gabby has a disorder that dramatically affects her ageing process. It takes her four years to age just one year – she’s a medical mystery, and doctors believe she could hold the key to biological immortality. A rare condition Gabby lives in America with her parents and five siblings. She’s the second-oldest child, but the smallest of the brood. When she was born, Gabby was purple and limp. Tests revealed she had a brain abnormality and her optic nerve was damaged, which has left her blind. She had two heart defects, a cleft palate, and an abnormal swallowing reflex, which meant she had to be fed through a tube in her nose. Doctors told Gabby’s mum and dad, Mary-Margaret and John, to expect the worst. ‘They knew something was seriously wrong,’ says Gabby’s mum. ‘But my husband and I hoped it was just a feeding problem and that it wasn’t going to be a big thing.’ Chromosome tests came back negative for well-known genetic conditions – doctors had no idea what was behind Gabby’s problems. So her family took her home and showered her with love. Slowly, Gabby started to get stronger and, despite battling infections, she stabilised. Her parents were so relieved. But, as the weeks and months passed by, Gabby hardly developed or grew. Eventually, doctors told Mary-Margaret and John that Gabby’s rate of ageing was much slower than other children, but there was no known genetic condition or abnormality to explain it. It’s a disorder that affects just a handful of people in the world – it’s so rare it has no name. Sufferers all have a form of cognitive deficiency, such as deafness or problems walking, but their chromosomes are normal. Gabby was born blind, and she’s unable to speak. ‘She cries when she is hurting and sometimes smiles,’ her mum admits. ‘But there’s not a whole lot of communication.’ Although nine years old, Gabby is as dependent on her parents as a baby. She’s fed milk every three hours from a bottle and needs changing and caring for constantly. Her hair is soft and downy and her skin is fragile. ‘Gabby hasn’t changed since pretty much forever,’ her mum says. ‘She’s a little longer now and we are putting her in size 3-6 month clothes instead of 0-3 months.’
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 14:21:09 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015