An eight-year-old girl has died after suffering from a premature ageing condition. Medical experts in Ukraine say Anna Sakidon's biological age was closer to 80 when she passed away from an exceptionally rare genetic disease called Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome.
The condition caused her bones to grown extremely slowly, affecting the movement of her arms and legs, while her organs aged rapidly.
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According to reports, the 'wonderful' girl had battled many health problems during her short life and weighed just 17lbs when she died.
Tragically she died from multiple failure of her inner organs linked to her premature ageing condition, said local reports.
Speaking previously about her late daughter, grieving mother Ivanna had said she had been 'ready to sacrifice everything in order to make her daughter healthy'.
Timofey Nagorny, head of the Foundation of Ukrainian Volunteers, which supported Anna's medical treatment, had said: "Her only dream is to discover one day that the diagnosis of the doctors was wrong."
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Confirming Anna's death, Dr Nadezhda Kataman said the 'wonderful' girl had been treated at Volyn Regional Children Medical Complex.
She said: "In January, Anna turned eight. For children with progeria diagnosis one year is equal to eight-to-ten years, so her real age was between 70 and 80.
"The child suffered from early ageing of her inner organs and body system..."
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Adding: "Such patient usually die from strokes. Anna suffered several strokes, and from paralysis of her limbs."
Anna was diagnosed with Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome soon after birth.
In a video filmed when she was just three years old, Anna's mother showed her to the world, saying that she could walk well after ten months.
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By 11 months 'she followed me everywhere' - like a typical toddler - but she was scared of light, Ivanna said.
And at the age of three, Anna hugged and kissed her teddy bear but did 'not want to kiss people'.
Research carried out in The Netherlands indicated the condition, which eventually took Anna's life, affects one in 20 million births.
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According to reports, there are approximately 160 known cases in the world and, for the moment, there is no known cure.
Earlier this year, a teenage girl who had the 'face of a 60-year-old' has undergone life-changing surgery to give her a more youthful look.
Xiao Feng, 15, from Liaoning's Heishan County, China, also suffers from Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome. Prior to the operation she had been forced to quit school after being bullied.
Featured Image Credit: East2West NewsTopics: Science, World News, Interesting, Health