She is about to start driving and soon will be able to legally buy alcohol and get married, but Poppy Webb-Jones still looks and thinks like a ten-year-old girl. Unlike other 17-year-olds, Poppy is more interested in Hannah Montana and Justin Bieber than wearing make-up, experimenting with boys or staying out late. This is due to a rare condition which means she was born without any hormones, meaning she has never gone through puberty, never had a growth spurt and never thrown a teenage tantrum. To many parents of teenagers, Poppy must sound like the perfect child, but unbeknown to her or her mother Karen Webb-Meek, her condition posed a deadly risk to her health throughout her whole childhood. Poppy was born with a condition called panhypopituitarism meaning she lacks most of the hormones essential for life. Hypopituitarism is the decreased secretion of one or more of the eight hormones normally produced by the pituitary gland at the base of the brain. If there is decreased secretion of most pituitary hormones, the term panhypopituitarism (pan meaning "all") is used. Poppy has no growth hormone, meaning her bones stopped growing around the age of 11, and she has no thyroxine, which regulates the metabolism and energy levels. In addition she has no oestrogen, which controls the onset of puberty and the development of secondary sexual characteristics.
HUNDREDS of colour coordinated yarns lie abandoned in this once thriving textile mill .
SOARING through the air, this is the moment a hungry tawny owl arrives home with dinner .
BREATHING life back into old photographs, these black and white images are transformed by colour .
FLEXING his muscles and staring straight at his opponent, this bodybuilding squirrel is the nuts .
LINED up one by one on a deer’s back, these little birds give their wings a break as they catch a ride across London .
Blonde teen Jess Stubbs has certainly got girl power - as Britain’s youngest TRUCKER .
A toddler has shrugged off death an incredible 10 times thanks to his parents who revive him with the kiss of life every two weeks .
HOTSPOT MEDIA - FUNKY BUMP: FROM MIRROR bellies to rainbow bumps these pregnancy casts of stone and bronze could be the funkiest way to preserve your bump for posterity .
This may look like a monster car engine that will leave petrol heads in a spin, but it is in fact a rather snazzy looking COFFEE MACHINE .
A photographer has captured stunning photographs of the Milky Way above picturesque landscapes in the UK and Italy .
