Progeria Research Paper

Within the first year of little Allie being born, her parents realized something was seriously wrong. Allie was not like all the other babies. Her hair began falling out instead of growing. She was gaining barely any weight. Her face became small compared to the rest of her head. What was wrong with their precious baby girl? The doctor eventually diagnosed Allie with Progeria. Her parents had no clue what this rare disease was. Progeria is a fatal disease that steals the youth of children; therefore, research needs to be done to find treatments, and possibly a cure, to prolong the life of these precious children. Progeria’s name is derived from Greek and means “prematurely old” (Gordon 1). This disease is not contagious, and it is not usually genetic (“Progeria Handbook” 1). Progeria is caused by the genetic mutation
This mutation makes the normally smooth, round nuclei knobby and rough (Bhattacharya 1-2). Sir Jonathan Hutchinson observed the first case of Progeria in 1886 (Gordon 1). The next case was described eleven years later by Hastings Gilford, thus where the full name, Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria syndrome, came from (Bhattacharya 1). The chance of a baby to be born with Progeria is one in four million. If a parent has already had one child with Progeria, the chances of their next baby to get the disease rise to between two and three in one hundred (“Progeria Handbook” 1). What makes these children so special? The first sign that something is different with these kids is their skin. These changes are usually found between birth and the first birthday. Some skin problems that Progeria patients have are skin tightness and dark spots. Kids with Progeria have normal hair when they are born, but within the first two years it gradually falls out. They also lose their eyebrows, but not their eyelashes (“Progeria Handbook” 5).