An American girl, who suffers from a
rare and undiagnosed syndrome that prevents her from putting on weight,
has to eat every 15 minutes in order to stay alive. Lizzie Velasquez,
21, from Texas, who is a communications student, weighs just 25.4 kg and
has almost zero per cent body fat, but is not anorexic. This, despite
60 small meals a day, consisting of between 5,000 and 8,000 calories
daily. Velasquez had been born four weeks prematurely and doctors found
there was minimal amniotic fluid protecting her in the womb. Genetic
experts could not diagnose her illness, and her case fascinated doctors
all over the world. Now she is part of a study run by Professor
Abhimanyu Garg in Dallas. Garg believes Velasquez may have Neonatal
Progeroid Syndrome which causes accelerated ageing, fat loss from the
face and body. People with PRS often have triangular and prematurely
aged faces with pointy nose.
Lizzie said: “I weigh myself regularly
and if I gain even one pound I get really excited. I eat every 15-20
minutes to keep my energy levels up. I eat small portions of crisps,
sweets, chocolate, pizza, chicken, cake, doughnuts, ice cream, noodles
and pop tarts all day long, so I get pretty upset when people accuse me
of being anorexic. When I meet new people I have to say: ‘Hi, I’m Lizzie
and I have this rare syndrome, I am NOT anorexic’.”
Lizzie has a brother Chris, 12, and a
sister Marina, 15, who are both normal.She was born four weeks
prematurely – weighing just 2lb 10oz.
Lizzie’s parents said: “They told us
they had no idea how she could have survived. They told us she would
never be able to walk, talk or have a normal life. We had to buy dolls’
clothes from the toy store because baby clothes were too big.”
Despite what her appearance might
suggest, Lizzie’s brain, bones, internal organs… developed normally, but
she nearly died twice: once when her appendix ruptured at 16 and
another time at 19, because her blood cells were not multiplying
properly (she was critically anemic).Lizzie was born with two brown
eyes, but when she was four, her right eye began to change of color and
she became blind from that eye.
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