Progeria- Child gets attention


Zach Pickard, a four year old kid from Lexington, Kentucky, USA, has been featured on CBS channel. He was diagnosed with Progeria, a rare genetic disorder. It's so rare that less than 50 people around the world are currently known to have been affected by it.

Zach is currently just four year olds and the doctors have said that he is likely to live for another ten years. There are cases where the affected people have gone on to live more than even twenty years. Leon Botha, a south african DJ passed away just a few days back and he went on to live till the age of 26.

Tina Pickard, Zach Pickard's mother says that she is having hope for her child as he is now part of a special drug trial in Boston. Several such drug trials and research for the treatment for Progeria have been happening all over the world and we certainly do hope, that a cure is found soon and people like Zach can live a happy, normal life.

Children like Zach are born with excess amounts of a protein called Progerin. Progerin is a cell destroying protein and the presence of excess of it, does cause a lot of problems for the individual. Doctors do believe that the new research they are making, could lead to the development of ground breaking anti-aging treatments. 


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