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
STREET FIGHTER CRAZE SPREADS TO LONDON
THE CRAZE for mimicking the video game Streetfighter has spread to the streets of London .
INCREDIBLE BABY DREAMS BROUGHT TO LIFE
WHETHER FLOATING through space or diving underwater, a lucky baby boy enjoys once in a life time experiences - in his DREAMS .
UK'S STRONGEST SCHOOLGIRL
THE UK’S STRONGEST SCHOOLGIRL attributes her success to the bendy-body condition that once left her body wracked in pain .
WIFE CELEBRATES MARRIAGE BY SNOWBOARDING IN WEDDING DRESS
SNOWBOARDING in your £2,000 wedding dress sounds like a nightmare for most brides .
WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS DIVE
Standing on the edge of a never-ending black hole, this is one leap you wouldn't want to make .
MILLIONS OF LUMINOUS FISH DWARF DIVERS
SWIMMING in unison, millions of silverside fish dwarf the divers .
ABANDONED DAIRY FARM'S EERIE PAST
HEARTWARMING belongings lie abandoned in this eerie former dairy farm which has been left to crumble away for decades .
BIG FOOT 'JESUS BIRD'
THIS BIGFOOT 'Jesus bird' may look silly, but he's perfectly designed for walking on water .
SCULPTURES THAT WILL LEAF YOU SPEECHLESS
GIANT garden sculptures don't beat about the bush .
WOMAN WHO LOST 9ST SPENT £11K TO GET PERFECT BODY
A woman has spent over £11k to get the perfect body after a 9st weight loss left her with excess skin .
DOG WITH A BONE
A puppy bit off more than he could chew when he stole a six inch Chinese spare rib from his owner and swallowed it WHOLE, Cheeky Staffordshire bull terrier Rossi had his life SPARED when he underwent a life-saving operation to remove the bone from his stomach after swiping part of the takeaway meal .
HUNGRY GORILLA ENJOYS DINNER
SHOVELLING food into his mouth, this hungry gorilla enjoys a peaceful moment at dinner time .