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.
TENNIS was a game made for three according to the first Victorian rule book .
Some will get up close and personal with Mother Nature’s deadliest animals to get the perfect shot, posing the question, what lengths will a photographer go to for that all important picture? But in this case, the question should be what depths .
WE’RE all familiar with the heart-wrenching pictures of dogs abandoned in animal shelters, but one photographer has found an innovative way of showcasing the pooch’s personality .
THE THOUGHT OF BECOMING shipwrecked on a remote destination would fill most holidaymakers with dread .
The claws come out at meal time as a group of white tailed eagles brawl over road-kill .
A SERENE turquoise glow glimmers from underneath these powerful icebergs .
HUNDREDS of colour coordinated yarns lie abandoned in this once thriving textile mill .
A BIKINI swim with jellyfish sounds like the most painful past-time on the planet .
SNOWBOARDING in your £2,000 wedding dress sounds like a nightmare for most brides .
A SPECTRUM of colours fills the sky during this spectacular and natural display of light .
AIRPORT staff have been put on alert after diet pills that come in grenade shaped containers sparked security alerts .
A fox takes a tumble and lands on his head when he tries to fend off a pair of eagles in Japan .