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.
Heart pounding, Rebecca Cain jumped as a car door slammed on the street outside .
POPE MOBBED BY THOUSANDS OF WORSHIPPERS IN RIO - Thousands of worshippers gather to celebrate the Papal visit on Copacabana beach, Rio de Janeiro ,Brazil .
A woman has lost an incredible 13st after a group of men cruelly threw a kebab at her as she walked down the street .
A Birmingham man inspired by sci-fi film Wall-E, has created a one- wheeled vehicle, controlled by signals from his BRAIN .
From foster care to the MAGICAL world of cosplay, a young girl’s dreams become reality after being adopted by a photography loving couple .
LEAPING through the air this determined little mouse is on a mission for food .
THIS may look like a dolphin through jumping hoops, but it is in fact nothing more than a clever 3D pencil drawing .
Two sisters from Hampshire who suffered botched nose jobs have spent £19 .
From the tails of fighter planes to black and white checked buildings, graveyards take different and unusual forms around the world .
A grey whale and her calf greet an audience of awestruck admirers on the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur, Mexico .
Meet the real-life Little Bo Peep - a young woman who spends her days tending to her four pet SHEEP .