Beandri Booysen is no more: The disease that took her life at a tender age

London: The Amitabh Bachchan movie Pa, which won him the National Award for Best Actor, is most of our introduction to the disease called Progeria. South African youngster Beandri Booysen, who recently passed away at the age of 19 due to 'old age,' is a personality who impressed the world with her resilience in recent times despite suffering from Progeria. Doctors had said that she won't live longer than 14 years. But Beandri impressed the world with her incredible resilience and will to live. Beandri, who inspired many on the internet with her life, enjoyed hundreds of social media followers, too.

Beandri Booysen, was born with an extremely rare genetic condition called Hutchison – Gilford Progeria syndrome, characterised by dramatic and rapid aging from childhood onwards. Progeria patients have brittle bones and often suffer from fractures and injuries. As per reports, only one person in 4 million is born with this condition. Beandri was one of the 200 people in the world who were diagnosed with progeria, which is incurable. It was her mother, Bae, who announced the sad news on Beandri's Facebook page. She wrote that Beandri didn’t survive the fight for life and thanked her fans around the world for loving her daughter.

Hutchison – Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS)
Hutchison – Gilford Progeria Syndrome is an extremely dangerous and severe genetic disorder which leads to premature ageing in children. Children with HGPS look normal at the time of their birth. However, they start to show symptoms of the disease when they are 9 – 24 months old. Small eyes, tiny chin, long nose and ears are some changes on their body. Besides, they lose their eyelashes and eyebrows too. Meanwhile, wrinkles also begin to appear on the skin, like old people.

Children with HGPS will not have normal weight gain according to their age. They may also suffer from problems in the blood vessels, which could lead to heart attack and stroke at a young age. Besides, kids with HGPS may also experience severe joint pain, fractures, and fat loss beneath the skin. HGPS is caused by a Lamin A (LMNA) gene mutation.