Doctors Baffled, Intrigued By Girl Who Doesn't Age

phyrebyrd writes "Brooke Greenberg is the size of an infant, with the mental capacity of a toddler. She turned 16 in January. Brooke hasn't aged in the conventional sense. Dr. Richard Walker of the University of South Florida College of Medicine, in Tampa, says Brooke's body is not developing as a coordinated unit, but as independent parts that are out of sync. She has never been diagnosed with any known genetic syndrome or chromosomal abnormality that would help explain why. Brooke's hair and her nails are the only two things that grow, Howard said. 'She has pajamas and outfits that are 10 or 12 years old,' he said."

Re:I don't have anything really smart to say

[BrightSpark]

Oh, grow up!

Surgeon General's warning

[Blixinator]

GOVERNMENT WARNING: (1) According to the Surgeon general, women should not drink from the fountain of youth during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects.

Brooke is a deviation

[taucross]

Her body is not developing as a co-ordinated unit because her environment (humanity) isn't either. These kind of deviations within nature will continue to become more apparent as humans evolve. As long as we continue to grow egoistically, separated from one another, we will be as cancer cells rather than living tissue - working for the benefit of ourselves rather than each other. We are all complicit in her abnormality.

Re:I bet it's lupus..

[Abreu]

It's never lupus

Re:She seems to grow

[Anonymous Coward]

And Christians everywhere come up with a new excuse for Noah being 500 years old.

Re:I don't have anything really smart to say

[need4mospd]

I bet they match the Star Wars sheets on your bed too.

Re:I bet it's lupus..

[darkstar949]

Except for the one time where it was lupus.

High school girls

[RobVB]

High school girls stay the same age as well. Giggity giggity.

Re:Brooke is a deviation

[taucross]

Man, I've been through so many drugs I've almost become a Christian.

Re:Brooke is a deviation

[taucross]

No, soldiers die because they bleed too much.

Hmm

[LizardKing]

She has pajamas and outfits that are 10 or 12 years old,' he said.

That's nothing, I work in an office with some programmers who haven't changed their outfits in over twenty years.

Re:Brooke is a deviation

[smallfries]

Mr. Taucross, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Re:I don't have anything really smart to say

[Anonymous Coward]

What if we have it backwards?

What if she is the first person not to have the disease we all have and that she is aging but really really slow?

It's like I've been saying- you kids are going _way_ too fast!

Now, get off my lawn!

Re:I don't have anything really smart to say

[Anonymous Coward]

Except that you might get it named after

Sadly, they named my condition Gigantus Penis Maximus Syndrome and left my name right out of it.

Wow, not what I expected

[CaptSaltyJack]

Wow, this article is not what I expected in the slightest. Here I was thinking it was some hot 21-year-old girl who was gonna look 21 the rest of her life, and I was gonna show up here and say "Some guy is gonna be a super lucky husband!" But, uh...er... anyway, moving right along.

Re:I don't have anything really smart to say

[grub]

I will too.

I'll be the 112 year old guy with the body of a 43 year old in the corner. Come say Hi!

Relativity

[trevdak]

Has anyone considered that she might just be moving very close to the speed of light?

Re:I don't have anything really smart to say

[sentientbeing]

If she wants to look older she should do what every other 16 year old does:

Learn to smoke.

Re:I don't have anything really smart to say

[Anonymous Coward]

So she's Wolverine?

Re:I don't have anything really smart to say

[Anonymous Coward]

Really? Lou Gehrig was a doctor? wow, the things you learn on /.

Re:maybe show live a thousand years

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think any show will live a thousand years. Except for maybe Law and Order or The Simpsons.

Re:She seems to grow

[camperdave]

Yeah. In several hundred years she'll hit puberty. Then within a few weeks she'll develop blue-green lesions that will cover her body. She'll turn grup, meaning she'll become violent and full of rage, and then die. I saw it on TV.

babies are very cute

[circletimessquare]

perhaps a large conglomerate could claim intellectual property on this mutation, and mass produce cute little baby pets that never grow up and become surly teenagers. perhaps you could even clone yourself, and have a little pet baby you to waddle around in diapers and make cute cooing noises. when the novelty wears off and they become a hassle, just leave them by the side of the road, like people always do with golden retriever puppies at the end of the summer and such*

*this post brought to you in an attempt to offend every shred of ethics you have

run for your lives, lolis

[nausea_malvarma]

So in two years she'll be 18...But still look like shes 3. Uh oh, better watch out for pedo bear.

Re:I don't have anything really smart to say

[ginbot462]

Stop arguing with yourself AC

Re:I don't have anything really smart to say

[Jurily]

Gigantic PMS?

Re:Brooke is a deviation

[Anonymous Coward]

What can you tell me about Time Cube???

Re:the answer is in the abc article

[Just Some Guy]

i would say that this girl, uh, young woman, has an incredibly rare, unique mutation: insensitivity to human growth hormone. it would explain all of her symptoms

Was it Wilson's story about his tennis elbow that jarred you to that conclusion?

There Can Be Only One

[HTH NE1]

Damn, she's going to be at a tremendous disadvantage come the Gathering.

Re:I don't have anything really smart to say

[Anonymous Coward]

what? and stunt her growth?

Re:I don't have anything really smart to say

[QRDeNameland]

Maybe she already has. As I was repeatedly told in my youth, smoking stunts your growth.

Re:Hmm

[Sponge Bath]

Wide lapels and pocket protectors are timeless and durable classics.

Re:I don't have anything really smart to say

[TheEmpyrean]

She can still be a technical or political blogger or head of the Democratic party and no one would be able to tell the difference. But still true, hardly a 'normal' life.

Re:She looks retarded ...

[commodoresloat]

Not even if you paste a picture of an adult's face over hers?

Re:I don't have anything really smart to say

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes. What family and doctors have believed to be just baby talk is in fact a Canadian accent with a liberal sprinkling of 'bub's.

it's NOT lupus

[circletimessquare]

(scowl... limp... vicodin chomp)

Peter Pan

[Darinbob]

A child who never grows up. Haven't we had enough stories about Michael Jackson?

Re:Check out TFA

[coinreturn]

Why isn't there an "insensitive" mod point?

Would that be +1 or -1 ?

Re:I don't have anything really smart to say

[200_success]

No, she's Maggie Simpson.

Re:I don't have anything really smart to say

[Hognoxious]

Then, doctors diagnosed a brain tumor, and the Greenbergs bought a casket for her.

At least when they come round to needing it it'll still fit.