Toddler's Stature, Mind, and Teeth, 10-Year-Old's Bones

"16-Year-Old Has the Body
of a Baby"
myFOX Chicago (June 24, 2009)

"She's 16 years old, but has the body and mind of a toddler.

Years have passed and doctors still can't solve a baffling mystery -- why hasn't Brooke Greenberg aged?

ABC News reports that Brooke is 16 pounds and 30 inches tall. She doesn't speak, but knows how to vocalize sounds to ask for things or express what she likes and doesn't like, just like an infant. Doctors have observed that Brooke's body is growing out of sync. For instance she still has baby teeth, but her bone age is estimated to be 10 years old...."

I hope that Brooke's family is holding up under the pressure of having a daughter who is that far off the 50th percentile.

Dr. Richard Walker(University of South Florida) and geneticist Maxine Sutcliffe think that there's a genetic reason for Brooke's condition, and they want to find it. If they do, they think we'll know much more about how and why people age.

I wish the doctor well, and don't want to seem like I'm standing in the way of scientific progress, but I hope that Brooke is treated with more respect than I was (Medical Ethics and Human Experimentation: Why I Take it Personally" (February 3, 2009))

This article is a pretty good overview of Brooke's condition, and what may - or may not - be causing it.

More, at "Doctors Baffled, Intrigued by Girl Who Doesn't Age," ABC News (June 23, 2009).