Today
ლ(இДஇლ)
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2009
- Messages
- 4,960
- NNID
- Daylightful
Source!
This is really sad... what a strong little girl. I suggest looking at the video, too that's linked in the source.A young British girl is desperately seeking an improvement to her quality of life after being diagnosed with a condition that makes her age eight times faster than normal.
Ashanti Elliott-Smith, a seven-year-old who lives in the south of England, suffers from Hutchinson Gilford Progeria Syndrome that has reduced her life expectancy to 13, News Of The World reports.
The condition means Ashanti will have to body of an 80-year-old when she is 10.
She has undergone special trial treatment at a facility in France but it will only improve her quality of life, not extend it.
"She understands her most of her condition but we don't talk to her about the prognosis as we don't want to scare her," her mother Phoebe, 24, told NOTW.
"To tell your daughter the truth about something like that — it is the hardest thing in the world."
The condition is caused by a defective gene and only 52 people worldwide suffer from it, including another young British girl Hayley Okines, who spoke to 60 Minutes in 2007.
Ashanti has a younger sister Brandi-Lou who is unaffected by the disease. The condition has left Ashanti with brittle bones and no hair, and in several years time she will suffer from arthritis and respiratory conditions of an elderly woman.
Her mother says one of the hardest things to deal with is when people stare at Ashanti, but despite her frail condition, she remains strong.
"If other children stare at her, Ashanti just smiles and says 'It's because I'm beautiful'," Phoebe says.
