TRAPPED IN THE BODY OF A 10 YR OLD: TEENAGE GIRL BORN WITHOUT HORMONES

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.

Other great stories
CLIMBERS TACKLE 200FT TOTEM POLE

TOWERING 65 metres into the sky, this terrifying accent is a dream for climbers .

LOOK, NO HANDS! MAN CONTROLS VEHICLE USING HIS BRAIN

A Birmingham man inspired by sci-fi film Wall-E, has created a one- wheeled vehicle, controlled by signals from his BRAIN .

A SMILEY GECKO SHEDS ITS SKIN AS HEATWAVE HITS BRITAIN

STRETCHING his little legs in the air, a smiley leaf-tailed gecko breaks free from his old, scaly skin .

STUNNING ENGLISH COASTAL LANDSCAPES

WITH STUNNING colours and serene scenes, these photographs capture the otherworldly beauty of the English coast .

OUT OF THIS WORLD PLANET CAKES

Complete with core, mantle and crust, these incredible planet cakes are truly out of this world .

ADORABLE DOLPHINS VISIT AUSTRALIAN BEACH FOR BREAKFAST

SWIMMING slowly towards the shore, a small group of bottlenose dolphins arrive for breakfast at a beach in Western Australia .

ADORABLE OWLS CUDDLE UP FOR THE CAMERA

HUDDLED together on a branch, a pair of adorable Javan scops owls soak up the sun .

PEE-TRIFIED: WOMAN HAS IRRATIONAL FEAR OF TOILETS

A woman with an irrational fear of toilets goes POTTY on the loo and runs away when she flushes, terrified it will swallow her up .

TRAINEE DOC DUMPED FOR BEING CHUBBY - NOW HE'S A HUNKY BODYBUILDER

A medical student has gone from chunky to hunky after being dumped by his ex- girlfriend for being too 'chubby' .

WOMAN TAUNTED FOR HUGE FEET OPENS STORE

A woman branded the Jolly Green Giant by SOLE-crushing school bullies for her whopping size nine feet has had the last laugh by opening a shoe shop for big footed girls .

SINGLE WOMAN GRANTED NHS IVF HAS BABY AFTER 3 MISCARRIAGES

A single woman, who was granted IVF funding on the NHS, finally has a baby after suffering three miscarriages .