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
ADORABLE SQUIRREL GETS READY FOR A SNOWBALL FIGHT
ROLLING up snow in its tiny paws, this little squirrel is looking for a snowball fight .
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE BUG KIND
THIS alien-like bug would look more at home in outer-space but it can actually be found wriggling around here on Earth .
AMAZING AMERICAN LANDSCAPES
This tranquil setting stretches for miles as the sun sets behind the mountain .
ROMANIAN CELEBRATES NEW JOB AS KNIFE THROWER'S ASSISTANT
A Romanian woman is celebrating her new job as a knife-thrower’s assistant after leaving her family behind to move to the UK .
I LOST HALF MY WEIGHT AND BECAME A WOMAN
Pinning a purple flower into her bleach blonde hair, pretty Ava admired herself in the mirror .
REAL LIFE DOLLS HOUSE
Ever wished you could live in a house just like Barbie's? Canadian sculptor Heather Benning has created the life-size dollhouse of her dreams out a derelict building .
TOO FAT FOR HUGS BUT NOW I'VE LOST 9 STONE
Aged 27, I was swept off my feet by my gorgeous husband, Lee, now 42 .
SQUIRREL VS DINOSAUR
A feisty squirrel takes on a fearsome foe when he decides to tackle a T-REX .
OKLAHOMA TORNADO
Destroyed buildings and overturned cars are seen after a huge tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, near Oklahoma City, May 20, 2013 .
LIP FILLERS NEARLY KILLED ME
A woman left disfigured and traumatised by an addiction to lip filler injections has issued a warning to others searching for the perfect pout after the plastic chemicals nearly killed her .
ENDANGERED GORILLA BORN AT TWYCROSS ZOO
A proud gorilla mum welcomes her newborn baby western lowland gorilla, a critically endangered species .
AURORA BOREALIS ILLUMINATES LAPLAND
From vivid greens to glowing pinks, the colours of the aurora borealis fill the night sky above a snow covered Lapland .