The Perpetual Child

Sometimes things happen that lead us to question life itself. These things can range from the horrible to the strange. One of the worst things that can happen to someone is to have a baby born deformed, or mentally incapacitated Sometimes we see examples of these poor children that just want to make us cry. One example might be a pair of children that were born sharing one spine, or some other such horror. This not only effects the children as they grow, assuming that they can live this way, but it also takes a terrible toll on the parents. Sometimes science can solve the problem and separate children that were born joined and sometimes it can only save one, then there are the times where nothing can be done. It is times like this that make us question our very existence.

When the Greenbergs go out shopping, they put their little girl into the seat of the shopping cart, just as millions of other parents do. Passersby stop to admire the baby and when they ask the same question that people everywhere ask, which is “how old is your baby”, they get the answer that the baby is 16 months old. It is certainly true that the cute little girl looks sixteen months old, so the passerbys start to leave and turn to tell the Greenbergs how cute the baby is. The truth of the matter is that this must be killing the Greenbergs every time someone does this. You might ask why? The answer will startle you, so please sit down while I tell you this. The baby is not 16 months old but 16 years old. Yes you heard me correctly. This baby has completely befuddled the scientific community. As far as I know, there has never been another case like this.

As we look into little Brooke's face we notice a sort of stare that seems to be void of emotion, but we are told that the child has the mentality of a toddler. She certainly looks like one. Looks can be deceiving however and upon close examination, doctors and researchers have noticed that different parts of her tiny body seem to be aging at different rates. Could it be that this child is aging so slowly that it is imperceptible to science? Brooke still has her baby teeth and yet her bones are showing certain structures that should only be there in a 10 year old child. The child is far from normal, as far as her health goes. She has had several diseases and has suffered strokes, seizures and a number of other unpleasant events, such as tumors and ulcers, just to mention some of her problems.

Brooke Greenberg was born on January 8, 1993, in Reisterstown, Maryland. Doctors are now saying that the unfortunate little girl has the problem that her body is growing in an uncoordinated manner, even though it seems she is not growing at all. Most articles state that no genetic reason has been found for Brooke's condition, yet it was recently announced that one gene was found that had an usual property. When doctors looked at her brain, they determined that is one area that seems not to have have advanced very much since her birth. It is said that her mental state is equal to a child that is between 9 months to 12 months. She can not speak, but it is said that she can make gestures. She was premature by about one month and weighed about 4 pounds.

The Greenbergs have gone to a myriad of different doctors, but all were baffled. Brooke was given growth hormone, but failed to even grow a fraction of an inch or put on an ounce of weight, to the disappointment of everyone. Even nutritionists were called in and still nothing happened. When the army of doctors was exhausted, not one of them had been able to figure out what the medical problem was and gave it the name of Syndrome X. The Greenbergs left no medical stone unturned, even taking Brooke to Mount Sinai Hospital and Johns Hopkins Children's center, but the answer was always the same and the problem that was the cause of this remained unknown. Some scientists decided to do a DNA check of the genes that are associated with premature aging, but these genes appeared normal.

The Greenbergs are saints. They have to be, to be able to bear this heartbreak. Lesser people would certainly have put Brooke in a home by now. It is not that Brooke is deformed or anything like that, but the pressure on the parents over all these years to try and find a cure for Brooke have been enormous and lesser pressure has crushed many other normal people. No one can truly understand what people with this type of burden must go through, including myself, but I thank God that all my children were born normal and stayed that way. To see a video about Brooke Greenberg, click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBbG2tSDfOo