Extraordinary People: Progeria

• Jonathan Ince
Source: quigleyscabinet.blogspot.com
It seems to me that from day to day, people only ever describe footballers, actors and music artists as extraordinary. Well here’s my take on that, extraordinary isn’t about celebrities who really do seem to have money trees, it’s about people like Hayley Okines who we meet on this episode of Extraordinary People- who for every day have to fight for their lives, put up with excessive medication, a life threatening condition and consistent ridicule of how they look, yet still appreciate the little things they do have. Now tell me that isn’t extraordinary!
Hayley Okines is currently 14 years of age, one year older than the average life span of children with Progeria. Progeria, or Hutchinson Gilford Progeria syndrome, is an extremely rare, fatal genetic condition of childhood with striking features resembling premature aging. It accelerates the process of aging to about eight times the normal rate. Because of this accelerated aging, a child with Hutchinson Gilford Progeria that is ten years old will have similar respiratory, cardiovascular, and arthritic conditions of that of an eighty year old.

There is no cure yet for progeria however there is treatment which can help relieve some of the symptoms:
Hydrotherapy: This promotes relaxation, relieves pain, assists movement and enables exercise. It can also help prevent arthritis from getting worse.
Nutrini: This provides all of the nutrients essential for well-being and health.
Pro-Cal: A new generation protein and calorie food enricher that can be added to a wide variety of food and drink to enrich the energy and protein content of the normal diet.
The list goes on however recent scientific research into a cure for progeria using the drug tipifarnib, usually employed in cancer treatments, has showed that it can inhibit the symptoms of progeria in genetically modified lab mice.
In total there has only been 100 cases of progeria recorded and at present, there are around 74 known cases of progeria around the world, only 4 being in the UK! However, if such fantastic research persists, perhaps the average life span of people with progeria could rise to that of a healthy person! I’ve got my fingers crossed.

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