Progeria Essay Research Paper I

Progeria Essay, Research Paper

I. Introduction

A. Imagine for a second that you are a six-year-old. Your friends invite you out to

play but you can t because you have a painful case of arthritis that hurts with every step you take. Or your chronic heart disease enables you from being able to breathe easily. These conditions are just a few that a child with Progeria may suffer from. Progeria, also known as Hutchinson Gilford Syndrome, is an extremely rare aging disease that causes a child to age up to eight times faster than normal.

B. Therefore, today I will inform you about Progeria.

C. Today in my speech I will inform you of;

1. When Progeria was discovered and how it got its name.

2. The signs and symptoms that an individual with Progeria suffers from.

3. The suspected cause.

4. Finally, an important organization that support children and their families with Progeria.

II. Body

A. Lets begin with who discovered Progeria.

1. Jonathon Hutchinson first acknowledged Progeria in 1886.

a. Six years later in a published article, Hastings Gilford affirmed the disease

and named it Progeria, meaning, Before Old Age.

b. For these reasons, that is how the disease got its name, the Hutchinson

Gilford Syndrome also known as Progeria.

c. During the discovery there was two people who had the disease.

2. According to the Progeria Website there are many signs to detect the

presence of Progeria.

a. Individuals with Progeria appear normal at birth, its not until about the age of one that signs become evident.

(1) These signs include: (visual aide) baldness, prominent scalp veins,

a narrow chest, enlargement of the spleen, the absence of eyebrows

and lashes, they relatively have a large head with small faces, and

crowded irregular teeth.

(2) Growth is extremely stunted and may only reach the height of a

normal two-year-old and sometimes no higher than a five-year-old.

b. A child with Progeria is just a normal six-year-old in a seventy-year old body.

(1) The sex organs remain small and under developed and are unable to

reproduce.