A girl aged eight has died of 'old age' in Ukraine after suffering from an exceptionally rare genetic progeria disease that only affects 160 people in the world. Anna Sakidon's biological age was nearer to 80. At such a young age, she had to put up with a lot of medical problems, medics treating her said. Anna reached her eighth birthday last month but only weighed 17lbs.
Anna died from multiple failure of her inner organs linked to her premature ageing condition, said local media reports in Ukraine. Anna's mother Ivanna had earlier said how she was 'ready to sacrifice everything in order to make her daughter healthy'.
Timofey Nagorny, head of the Foundation of Ukrainian Volunteers that supported Anna Sakidon's medical treatment was quoted as saying: 'Her only dream is to discover one day that the diagnosis of the doctors was wrong.' Confirming Anna's death, Dr Nadezhda Kataman said the 'wonderful' girl had been treated at Volyn Regional Children Medical Complex since childhood.
"In January, Anna turned eight. For children with progeria diagnosis one year is equal to eight-to-ten years, so her real age was between 70 and 80. The child suffered from early ageing of her inner organs and body system. Her bones grew slowly while her organs aged rapidly. Such patients usually die from strokes. Anna suffered several strokes, and paralysis of her limbs. This affected the movement of her arms and legs," Dr Kataman was quoted as saying.
Anna had been diagnosed with Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, a genetic condition, soon after birth. In a video when she was three, her mother showed Anna to the world and told she could walk well from the age of 10 months. By 11 months, Anna followed her mother everywhere but was scared of light so preferred to go outside in the evening. At 3, she was happy to hug and kiss her teddy bear but didn't like kissing people. Research in the Netherlands indicated that the condition affects one in 20million births. There are only around 160 known such people in the world.
