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.
Splashing around in the water, a mother otter and her son are tangled in a family feud .
A luxury caravan with a price tag of ONE MILLION DOLLARS is due to hit the road later this year .
A HEIGHT-addicted airline pilot has taken pictures of the Dubai from 1,300-feet .
Daniel Blore, 21, of Innage Crescent, Bridgnorth, stabbed his mother three times in the attack on January 11 this year, Stafford Crown Court heard .
STRIKING photos capture nature at its most raw and powerful during Earth’s most electrifying event .
FROM KISSING an alligator on the nose to walking over broken glass, this fearless daredevil is a real life female JACKASS .
A cricket perches on an unusual seat after crawling up the snout of a crocodile .
LYING back in the snow, these two polar bears share a cuddle as they call time out on playtime .
With no luck at the front of the bus, the deer runs around the center seats trying to escape through the window – THIS is the astonishing moment a DEER crashed through the front windshield of a bus before it went hysterically running around the vehicle .
Playing, splashing and generally messing around, these polar bears show they certainly have a soft spot for the water, and not just each other .
SQUABBLING over the last piece of grain, these hungry squirrels are determined to stock up on as much food as possible .
SOARING through the air, a hungry white-tailed kite prepares to snatch a vole from his mother’s claws .