<p>Age, it seemed, was catching up with Hanumantha and Rekha. Baffled and mystified, their parents consulted almost all district paediatricians who could not diagnose what the children suffered from. <br /><br />This rare disorder -- a disease actually -- is called Progeria, and it causes premature aging and usually results in early-adolescent death from cardiovascular complications.<br /><br />Same fate<br /><br />When their mother was pregnant again, Mahadevappa, who limps, and his wife decided to consult a gynaecologist, fearing the same fate may be in store for the child. At that time, the gynaecologist referred the parents to approach her husband and paediatrician Shekar Mane, who has a 50-bed nursing home. <br /><br />While Hanumantha is just eight and looks like a 60-year-old man, Rekha ten times older than her age. The two are from Guledagudda in Badami taluk of Baglkot district.<br /><br /> "I was surpised when I saw them when they approached me some six months ago. I had taken pictures on my mobile phone and studied medical literature and thought that they were suffering from Progeria. I decided to approach the media as a magazine said that only one family in Kolkata has children with this rare disorder,' 38-year-old doctor told Deccan Herald. The doctor said that boy was mentally active and “even has a story about me.” “He has told this to my staff but refuses to reveal it to me. I attend to their routine health problems and they were admitted to the hospital twice,” he added.<br /><br />Hanumantha does not mix with others because of some deformity but looks very old and the case of his four-year old sister is no different Suddenly, there is awareness about the disorder following the publicity to movie ‘Paa’, starring Amitabh Bachchan and his son, Abhishek. The movie deals with a person afflicted with ‘Progeria’ and the role is donned by 67-year-old Hindi star Amitabh. With a lot of publicity in the media about the production of the movie and how Amitabh went about preparing for the role, people have learnt a lot about the disorder. <br /><br />What is Progeria?<br /><br />Progeria, meaning premature ageing in Greek is a genetic disorder. Its alternative nomenclature is Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome. It is said that such children normally do not survive more than 20 years. <br /><br />As it is a genetic disease, there is no proper definite cure and the children are given calcium tablets to strength their bones and normal medicine to bring temperature down.<br /><br /></p>
<p>Age, it seemed, was catching up with Hanumantha and Rekha. Baffled and mystified, their parents consulted almost all district paediatricians who could not diagnose what the children suffered from. <br /><br />This rare disorder -- a disease actually -- is called Progeria, and it causes premature aging and usually results in early-adolescent death from cardiovascular complications.<br /><br />Same fate<br /><br />When their mother was pregnant again, Mahadevappa, who limps, and his wife decided to consult a gynaecologist, fearing the same fate may be in store for the child. At that time, the gynaecologist referred the parents to approach her husband and paediatrician Shekar Mane, who has a 50-bed nursing home. <br /><br />While Hanumantha is just eight and looks like a 60-year-old man, Rekha ten times older than her age. The two are from Guledagudda in Badami taluk of Baglkot district.<br /><br /> "I was surpised when I saw them when they approached me some six months ago. I had taken pictures on my mobile phone and studied medical literature and thought that they were suffering from Progeria. I decided to approach the media as a magazine said that only one family in Kolkata has children with this rare disorder,' 38-year-old doctor told Deccan Herald. The doctor said that boy was mentally active and “even has a story about me.” “He has told this to my staff but refuses to reveal it to me. I attend to their routine health problems and they were admitted to the hospital twice,” he added.<br /><br />Hanumantha does not mix with others because of some deformity but looks very old and the case of his four-year old sister is no different Suddenly, there is awareness about the disorder following the publicity to movie ‘Paa’, starring Amitabh Bachchan and his son, Abhishek. The movie deals with a person afflicted with ‘Progeria’ and the role is donned by 67-year-old Hindi star Amitabh. With a lot of publicity in the media about the production of the movie and how Amitabh went about preparing for the role, people have learnt a lot about the disorder. <br /><br />What is Progeria?<br /><br />Progeria, meaning premature ageing in Greek is a genetic disorder. Its alternative nomenclature is Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome. It is said that such children normally do not survive more than 20 years. <br /><br />As it is a genetic disease, there is no proper definite cure and the children are given calcium tablets to strength their bones and normal medicine to bring temperature down.<br /><br /></p>
