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.
AN ARRAY of colours, from pinks to blues and oranges, fill the night sky to create an amazing collection of interstellar patterns .
Like a scene from a fairytale, THOUSANDS of fireflies create an enchanting glow as they dance in a forest .
Surveying its surroundings, a tiny harvest mouse climbs the stem of a dandelion .
DIPPING his head into the vase of water, this little squirrel takes a refreshing break from an afternoon of eating .
TUGGING at his exhausted mum's ears, a beautiful baby orangutan refuses to settle for a nap as he begins a game of peek-a-boo .
LEAPING for joy five-feet above the waves this baby whale cutie is saying HELLO to its family after being lost .
A cricket perches on an unusual seat after crawling up the snout of a crocodile .
Throwing their arms up in the air, these energetic squirrels play a game of ball with a walnut .
NEW DELHI, A woman activist of India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party crosses a police barricade near the residence of ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi during a protest against the recent rape of a five-year-old girl in New Delhi, India, April 21, 2013 .
FROM a Kung-Fu professional to a mini incredible hulk, these are the babies you wouldn't want to mess with .
MEET the underwater British seal who is so friendly he loves to grapple divers like a friendly puppy dog .
FORGET Thorpe Park this summer as this is a 50 mile-per-hour ride over the Colorado River CANYON .