Brooke Megan Greenberg (January 8, 1993 – October 24, 2013)
was an American woman who remained physically and cognitively similar to a
toddler
A toddler is a child approximately 12 to 36 months old, though definitions vary. The toddler years are a time of great cognitive, emotional and social development. The word is derived from "to toddle", which means to walk unsteadily, like a child ...
, despite her increasing age. She was about tall, weighed about and had an estimated
mental age
Mental age is a concept related to intelligence. It looks at how a specific individual, at a specific age, performs intellectually, compared to average intellectual performance for that individual's actual chronological age (i.e. time elapsed sin ...
of nine months to one year. Brooke's doctors termed her condition ''Syndrome X''.
Birth and early life
Brooke was born on January 8, 1993
to parents Howard and Melanie Greenberg
at
Sinai Hospital in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, Maryland. She was delivered by
Caesarean section
Caesarean section, also known as C-section or caesarean delivery, is the surgical procedure by which one or more babies are delivered through an incision in the mother's abdomen, often performed because vaginal delivery would put the baby or mo ...
, one month before her due date due to "intermittent growth",
weighing just four pounds (1.8 kg). She was born with
anterior hip dislocation, a condition that caused her legs to be swiveled upward toward her shoulders; it was corrected surgically. Otherwise, Brooke appeared to be a normal infant.
She was the third of four girls born to her parents.
In her first six years, she went through a series of unexplained
medical emergencies
A medical emergency is an acute injury or illness that poses an immediate risk to a person's life or long-term health, sometimes referred to as a situation risking "life or limb". These emergencies may require assistance from another, qualified p ...
from which she recovered. She had seven perforated
stomach ulcers
Peptic ulcer disease (PUD) is a break in the inner lining of the stomach, the first part of the small intestine, or sometimes the lower esophagus. An ulcer in the stomach is called a gastric ulcer, while one in the first part of the intestines ...
. She also had a
seizure
An epileptic seizure, informally known as a seizure, is a period of symptoms due to abnormally excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. Outward effects vary from uncontrolled shaking movements involving much of the body with los ...
. This was followed by what was later diagnosed as a
stroke
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
; weeks later, no damage was detected. At age five, Brooke had a mass in her brain that caused her to go into a deep sleep (after confirmation that it was not a
coma
A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...
) for 14 days. The doctors diagnosed the mass as a
brain tumor
A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...
. She later awoke, and physicians found no tumor present. Brooke's pediatrician, Dr. Lawrence Pakula, states that the source of her sudden illness remains a mystery.
During an interview on the talk show ''
Katie
Katie is an English feminine name. It is a form Katherine, Kate, Caitlin, Kathleen, Katey and their related forms. It is frequently used on its own.
People Sports
*Katie Boulter (born 1996), British tennis player
*Katie Clark (born 1994), Briti ...
'', her father stated that between the ages of four and five, she stopped growing. ''Child Frozen In Time'', a documentary about Brooke,
was first broadcast on
TLC
TLC may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Television
* ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2
* TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network
** TLC (Asia), an A ...
on August 9, 2009.
Unexplained condition
Over several years, the Greenbergs visited many specialists, looking for an explanation for their daughter's strange condition, yet there was no diagnosis of any known genetic syndrome or chromosomal abnormality.
In 2001, when ''
Dateline
A dateline is a brief piece of text included in news articles that describes where and when the story was written or filed, though the date is often omitted. In the case of articles reprinted from wire services, the distributing organization is ...
'' documented Brooke at eight years of age, she was still the size of a six-month-old infant, weighing just 13 lb (5.9 kg) at 30 inches (76 cm) tall. The family still had no explanation. Brooke's mother Melanie said, "They
he specialistsjust said she'll catch up. Then we went to the
nutritionist A nutritionist is a person who advises others on matters of food and nutrition and their impacts on health. Some people specialize in particular areas, such as sports nutrition, public health, or animal nutrition, among other disciplines. In many c ...
, the
endocrinologist
Endocrinology (from ''endocrine'' + '' -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the integration of developmental events ...
. We tried the
growth hormone
Growth hormone (GH) or somatotropin, also known as human growth hormone (hGH or HGH) in its human form, is a peptide hormone that stimulates growth, cell reproduction, and cell regeneration in humans and other animals. It is thus important in h ...
…". The growth hormone treatment had no effect. Howard, Brooke's father, said, "I mean, she did not put on an ounce, or she did not grow an inch... That's when I knew there was a problem." After the growth hormone administration failed, the doctors, unable to
diagnose
Diagnosis is the identification of the nature and cause of a certain phenomenon. Diagnosis is used in many different disciplines, with variations in the use of logic, analytics, and experience, to determine " cause and effect". In systems enginee ...
a known condition, named her condition ''Syndrome X''.
The Greenbergs made many visits to nearby
Johns Hopkins Children's Center
Johns Hopkins Children's Center (JHCC) is a nationally ranked, pediatric acute care children's teaching hospital located in Baltimore, Maryland, adjacent to Johns Hopkins Hospital. The hospital has 196 pediatric beds and is affiliated the Johns Ho ...
and even took Brooke to New York's
Mount Sinai Hospital, searching for information about their daughter's condition.
When
geneticist
A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic processe ...
s sequenced Greenberg's
DNA, they found that the
gene
In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...
s associated with the
premature aging diseases were normal, unlike the
mutated
In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, mitos ...
versions in patients with
Werner syndrome
Werner syndrome (WS) or Werner's syndrome, also known as "adult progeria",James, William; Berger, Timothy; Elston, Dirk (2005). ''Andrews' Diseases of the Skin: Clinical Dermatology''. (10th ed.). Saunders. . is a rare, autosomal recessive disorder ...
and
progeria
Progeria is a specific type of progeroid syndrome, also known as Hutchinson–Gilford syndrome. A single gene mutation is responsible for progeria. The gene, known as lamin A (LMNA), makes a protein necessary for holding the Nucleus of the cell ...
.
Medical studies
In 2006, Richard Walker, an endocrine physiologist at the
University of South Florida College of Medicine
University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine is one of the graduate schools of the University of South Florida.
It is located in north Tampa, Florida and serves the greater Tampa Bay Area. Established by the Florida Legislature in 196 ...
, said that Brooke's body was not developing as a coordinated unit but as independent parts that were out of synchronization. She was never diagnosed with any known
genetic disorder
A genetic disorder is a health problem caused by one or more abnormalities in the genome. It can be caused by a mutation in a single gene (monogenic) or multiple genes (polygenic) or by a chromosomal abnormality. Although polygenic disorders ...
or
chromosomal abnormality
A chromosomal abnormality, chromosomal anomaly, chromosomal aberration, chromosomal mutation, or chromosomal disorder, is a missing, extra, or irregular portion of chromosomal DNA. These can occur in the form of numerical abnormalities, where ther ...
that would help explain why.
Her
telomere
A telomere (; ) is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences associated with specialized proteins at the ends of linear chromosomes. Although there are different architectures, telomeres, in a broad sense, are a widespread genetic feature mos ...
s seemed to be shortening at the normal rate.
[
In 2009, Walker said, "There've been very minimal changes in Brooke's brain … Various parts of her body, rather than all being at the same stage, seem to be disconnected."] Walker noted that Brooke's brain, for example, was not much more mature than that of a newborn infant. He estimated her mental age at around nine months to a year old. Brooke could make gestures and recognize sounds but could not speak. Her bones were like those of a ten-year-old, and she still had her baby teeth
Deciduous teeth or primary teeth, also informally known as baby teeth, milk teeth, or temporary teeth,Illustrated Dental Embryology, Histology, and Anatomy, Bath-Balogh and Fehrenbach, Elsevier, 2011, page 255 are the first set of teeth in the ...
, which had an estimated developmental age of about eight years. Said Walker, "We think that Brooke's condition presents us with a unique opportunity to understand the process of aging." "Different parts of her body are developing at different rates, as if they were not a unit but parts of separate organisms," Walker explained.
Death
Brooke Greenberg died on October 24, 2013, at the Herman and Walter Samuelson Children's Hospital at Sinai Medical Center in Baltimore, the same hospital where she was born. Her funeral service took place on October 27, 2013, and that same morning, she was buried at Baltimore Hebrew Cemetery - Berrymans Lane, in Reisterstown
Reisterstown is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 25,968.
Founded by German immigrant John Reister in 1758, Reisterstown is located ...
, Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
.[Brooke Megan Greenberg]
obituary and condolences at the Sol Levinson & Bros., Inc. site, stored at the Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...
The cause of her death was bronchomalacia
Bronchomalacia is a term for weak cartilage in the walls of the bronchial tubes, often occurring in children under a day. Bronchomalacia means 'floppiness' of some part of the bronchi. Patients present with noisy breathing and/or wheezing. There is ...
, a medical condition usually occurring in children, which results in difficulty breathing due to weak cartilage in the walls of the bronchial tubes
A bronchus is a passage or airway in the lower respiratory tract that conducts air into the lungs. The first or primary bronchi pronounced (BRAN-KAI) to branch from the trachea at the carina are the right main bronchus and the left main bronchus. ...
.
Comparable cases
Dr. Walker believed that Brooke Greenberg's condition had resulted from a failure of central control genes. He identified two more people with similar developmental issues: Gabrielle Williams of Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
(born in 2004) and Nicky Freeman of Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
(born on December 28, 1969), a middle age
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
d man who looks like a preteen boy.
Gabrielle Williams's condition has since been determined to have been the result of a genetic mutation. Nicky Freeman has been diagnosed with deformity of the pituitary gland.
María Audenete do Nascimento, a Brazilian woman who lives in the town of Caucaia
Caucaia is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Ceará. As of 2020, it has a population of 365,212. It is home of the Tapeba tribe, a native group organized in 17 villages around the metropolitan region of Fortaleza. Caucaia has the second b ...
near Fortaleza
Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the t ...
in the state of Ceará
Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the ...
, Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, was once thought to have a condition similar to Greenberg's. She was reportedly born in May 1981 but stopped growing after nine months. She has been diagnosed with severe hypothyroidism
Hypothyroidism (also called ''underactive thyroid'', ''low thyroid'' or ''hypothyreosis'') is a disorder of the endocrine system in which the thyroid gland does not produce enough thyroid hormone. It can cause a number of symptoms, such as po ...
.
In May 2015, it was reported that Layla Qualls of Oklahoma looked as if she was 9 or 10 months old, but was 3 years old. She was among seven children worldwide with Syndrome X that are being studied by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
. She died on January 7, 2020, at the age of 7.
In their ongoing research they found that the blood of Syndrome X children appears to age normally. Layla was also featured in a TLC documentary titled "The Girls Who Don't Age". This documentary aired July 18, 2016 on TLC.
In July 2016, it was reported that Alyssa Pennington of New Mexico looks as if she is five years old, but is 12 years old. She is another Syndrome X case.
Another case that has been reported in July 2016 is Jenifer Sandoval of Colorado. Although she looks as if she is four years old, she is 22 years old.
In April 2017, NTD Television reported about Manpreet Singh from a village in the northern Mansa Mansa may refer to:
Places In India
* Mansa, Gujarat, a town in northern Gujarat, Western India; the capital of:
** Mansa, Gujarat Assembly constituency
** Mansa State, a princely state under the Mahi Kantha Agency in India
* Mansa district, ...
, India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. At 22 years old, he is only 23 inches (58 cm) tall and was born after ten months. He did not show any signs of growth and development such as speaking after six months. Doctors said his condition could be caused by his late birth and a deficiency of growth hormones.
Another reported case in 2017 is Angus Palmes from Macclesfield
Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Bollin in the east of the county, on the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east ...
, UK. At the age of 13 he weighs and has a height of 3 feet 1 inch (94 cm). He is believed to have a chromosomal translocation
In genetics, chromosome translocation is a phenomenon that results in unusual rearrangement of chromosomes. This includes balanced and unbalanced translocation, with two main types: reciprocal-, and Robertsonian translocation. Reciprocal translo ...
of 15/20 and a partial trisomy of 22q12.3.
Blood tissue from five other female Syndrome X cases (whose average age was 6.3 years) turned out to be age-appropriate according to a biomarker of aging known as epigenetic clock
An epigenetic clock is a biochemical test that can be used to measure age. The test is based on DNA methylation levels, measuring the accumulation of methyl groups to one's DNA molecules.
History
The strong effects of age on DNA methylation le ...
. The mean epigenetic age of the five pure Syndrome X subjects was 6.7 years (standard error=1.0) which is not significantly different from the mean chronological age of 6.3 years (standard error=1.8). Notably, the oldest pure Syndrome X case had an epigenetic age of 14.5 years which was 3.2 years older than her true chronological age. It is not yet known whether the epigenetic age of other tissues is also age appropriate in these cases.
Neotenic complex syndrome
Blood samples from each of the "Syndrome X" girls were sent to Dr. Radoje Drmanac in San Francisco, who did a full genomic sequencing and found the common link shared by the girls, leading the syndrome to be renamed "neotenic complex syndrome
Neotenic complex syndrome (NCS) is a syndrome that presents as an extreme form of developmental delay, with the defining characteristic being neoteny of the patient. It was named in 2017 by Dr. Richard F. Walker, who discovered several genes impl ...
".
References
External links
''Girl Frozen In Time'' (TV Movie)
(TLC Documentary) at YouTube
The Amazing Girl Who Doesn't Age!
on ''ABC's Good Morning America'' in August 2009
See also
* immortality
Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some modern species may possess biological immortality.
Some scientists, futurists, and philosophers have theorized about the immortality of the human body, with some suggesting that human immorta ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenberg, Brooke
1993 births
2013 deaths
American people with disabilities
Respiratory disease deaths in Maryland
Growth disorders
People from Baltimore
People from Reistertown, Maryland
People with intellectual disability
American people of Jewish descent
Rare diseases