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
PHOTOGRAPHER CAPTURES UNIQUE PATTERNS OF THE HUMAN EYE
A Romanian photographer has captured the unique patterns of hundreds of human eyes in a series of striking macro shots .
OLD BUS TRANSFORMED INTO AMAZING HOLIDAY LET
FULLY equipped with a kitchen and lounge, it's hard to believe this modern holiday let is actually a BUS .
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 .
STRIPED MARLIN SPEARS ITS CATCH
A striped marlin means business as it spots lunch and spears a small fish .
VETERAN BEATEN IN REMEMBRANCE WEEKEND ATTACK
A PENSIONER was left with a fractured jaw after being beaten and robbed outside his home in Birmingham last weekend .
MAN AND TOY PIG SEARCH WORLD FOR MISSING CUDDLY COMPANION
An Australian explorer has travelled the globe with a toy pig, known as Travel Piggy, in search of a missing cuddly companion .
SPECTACULAR AURORA BOREALIS
A SPECTRUM of colours fills the sky during this spectacular and natural display of light .
ABANDONED WILD WEST THEME PARK
The gunslingers are long gone and tumbleweeds have taken over at this abandoned American Wild West Theme Park in Cornwall .
CAMOUFLAGED NORTHERN POTOO BIRD IS A MASTER OF DISGUISE
A northern potoo shows it is a master of disguise as it perches on a tree stump and blends into the bark .
MILLIONS OF SARDINES CREATE A TORNADO WAVE
THIS incredible shimmer of silver fish mirrors the image of that of an underwater tornado .
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 .