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.
MAKING himself at home, this little snail perches happily on top of this frog's head .
A man who developed anorexia as a teen has told that dying for 20 minutes helped shock him into recovery .
Most people have an angel at the top of their Christmas tree, but one bear at Chester Zoo decided he wanted to be the star of the show .
This was the chaotic scene when the driver of a 4x4 vehicle became periously trapped under his vehicle for an HOUR when it overturned after a crash on a busy motorway .
WELCOME to the real Frankenstein's lab where carefully pickled creatures are left to stew in jars .
Pic By HotSpot Media - ‘WORLD’S SMALLEST CINEMA’ IN OAP’S HOUSE -IN PIC- AN OAP film buff has brought the big screen to his home and built the world's smallest cinema in his BEDROOM .
A terrifying prankster has given unsuspecting urban explorers the fright of their lives .
A woman has lost over 13st after beating her addiction to POTATOES .
Katie Thompson, 22, met Joe Firby, now 23, in April 2020 on Tinder .
This Robin Reliant appears to have taken a wrong turn after it ended up 15 feet high up in a TREE .
The claws come out at meal time as a group of white tailed eagles brawl over road-kill .
TENNIS was a game made for three according to the first Victorian rule book .