Brooke Greenberg facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Brooke Greenberg
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| Born |
Brooke Megan Greenberg
January 8, 1993 |
| Died | October 24, 2013 (aged 20) Baltimore, Maryland, United States
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| Cause of death | Bronchomalacia |
| Known for | Syndrome X |
Brooke Megan Greenberg (born January 8, 1993 – died October 24, 2013) was an American girl who became known for a very rare condition. It was later called neotenic complex syndrome. Even though she lived for 20 years, her body and mind stayed like a young child's. She was about 30 inches (76 cm) tall and weighed around 16 pounds (7.3 kg). Doctors thought her mental age was like a baby of nine months to one year old.
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Brooke's Early Life
Brooke was born on January 8, 1993, in Baltimore, Maryland. She was born a month early and was quite small, weighing only four pounds (1.8 kg). She had a problem with her hips that was fixed with surgery. Other than that, she seemed like a normal baby at first. She was the third of four daughters in her family.
During her first six years, Brooke had many puzzling health problems. She had stomach ulcers and a seizure. She also had what doctors thought was a stroke, but weeks later, no damage was found. When she was five, Brooke had a mass in her brain. This made her sleep deeply for 14 days. Doctors thought it was a brain tumor, but when she woke up, the tumor was gone. Her doctor said the cause of these sudden illnesses was a mystery.
Brooke's father shared that she stopped growing between the ages of four and five. A TV show called Child Frozen In Time was made about Brooke. It was shown on TLC in 2009.
A Puzzling Condition
For many years, Brooke's parents visited many doctors. They wanted to understand why their daughter wasn't growing. But doctors could not find any known genetic syndrome or problem with her chromosomes. In 2001, when Brooke was eight, she was still the size of a six-month-old baby. She weighed only 13 pounds (5.9 kg) and was 30 inches (76 cm) tall.
Brooke's mother said that specialists first thought Brooke would catch up. They tried growth hormone treatments, but they did not work. Brooke's father said she did not gain any weight or grow an inch. Because doctors could not find a known reason for her condition, they called it Syndrome X.
Scientists looked at Brooke's DNA. They found that the genes linked to diseases that cause fast aging were normal. This was different from people with conditions like progeria.
What Doctors Learned
In 2006, a scientist named Richard Walker studied Brooke. He said that Brooke's body parts seemed to be growing at different speeds. It was like they were not working together as one body. For example, her brain was not much more developed than a newborn's. He thought her mental age was about nine months to a year. Brooke could make gestures and hear sounds, but she could not speak.
Her bones were like those of a ten-year-old. She still had her baby teeth, which were like those of an eight-year-old. Dr. Walker believed that Brooke's condition could help scientists learn more about how people age. He said, "Different parts of her body are developing at different rates, as if they were not a unit but parts of separate organisms."
Brooke's Passing
Brooke Greenberg passed away on October 24, 2013. She died at the same hospital in Baltimore where she was born. Her funeral was held a few days later, and she was buried in Reisterstown, Maryland. The cause of her death was bronchomalacia. This is a condition where the tubes that carry air to the lungs are weak. It makes it hard to breathe.
Other Similar Cases
Since Brooke's case, other children have been found with similar conditions. In 2015, a girl named Layla Qualls from Oklahoma was reported to look like a 9 or 10-month-old baby, but she was 3 years old. She was one of seven children with Syndrome X being studied by researchers. Layla passed away in 2020 at the age of 7. She was also featured in a TV show called "The Girls Who Don't Age."
In 2016, two more cases were reported. Alyssa Pennington from New Mexico looked five years old but was 12. Jenifer Sandoval from Colorado looked four years old but was 22.
Scientists have studied blood from five other girls with Syndrome X. They found that their blood seemed to age normally. This means that even though their bodies didn't grow, their blood cells showed signs of normal aging.
Neotenic Complex Syndrome
Blood samples from the "Syndrome X" girls were sent to a scientist named Dr. Radoje Drmanac. He studied their full genetic makeup. He found a common link between the girls. This led to the condition being renamed "neotenic complex syndrome".
See also
- Growth disorders
- Rare disease
