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
FORGETFUL PARENT’S LIVING TIMEKEEPER
FOR TWO memory-impaired parents their new-born baby Cian is a living timekeeper .
BIKINI SWIM WITH JELLYFISH
A BIKINI swim with jellyfish sounds like the most painful past-time on the planet .
SLEEPING IN THE WILDERNESS
SLEEPING within touching distance of wild African animals might not be everyone's idea of a relaxing break .
STREET FIGHTER CRAZE SPREADS TO LONDON
THE CRAZE for mimicking the video game Streetfighter has spread to the streets of London .
MINI-CANE GUIDES BLIND LEXI
A BLIND school-girl whose growth has been stunted by a rare medical condition is finding her feet again with the help of a specially made mini-cane .
WOMAN SPENDS £30K ON HELLO KITTY ADDICTION
A shoe designer from London has spent a whopping £30,000 on Hello Kitty memorabilia .
HONEYMOON BRIDE DIED OF HEROIN OVERDOSE
A coroner stunned an inquest into a honeymooner who died abroad today by asking her husband if he was involved in her drugs death .
SINGING STOAT
MOUTH OPEN wide, this little stoat appears to be in mid-song as he belts out a tune for his onlookers .
TRIG-OF -THE- EYE STREET ART
At first glance what might look like ordinary rusty bridge and road railings, are in fact amazing works of art .