Another Source: http://news.peacefmonline.com/foreign/201006/46054.php
A 7-year-old Ashanti Elliott-Smith suffers from a rare genetic disorder which makes her look like a granny. Due to the disease, she has a face and physique of an old woman.
Ashanti is afflicted with Hutchinson Gilford Progeria Syndrome, an incurable disorder, has led Ashanti to age 8 times faster than any normal child, reducing her life span to merely 13 years.
Brave Ashanti is currently dealing with ageing problems like arthritis, wrinkles, a weak heart and sudden fatigue.
Nevertheless, she bears it all with immense courage and a constant smile on her face.
Phoebe, her mother who has another daughter aged four reveals,"We make the most of each day.
"Ashanti's such an easy-going lively little girl - she's so precious.
"I'm so proud of her. She doesn't let her condition bother her at all. She's such a big character and everyone knows when she is in the room."
Ashanti is 3 feet tall and weighs just 2stone, the weight of a normal 3 year old, and needs extra vigilance and hygiene as she is ultra prone to chicken pox and flu.
Detection of the disorder
Born on May, 2003, Ashanti seemed to be a fit child weighing 5lb 10oz, a normal weight.
"I'd had a normal pregnancy and I thought she was perfect. Her dad Albi and I were thrilled," the News of the World quoted Phoebe, as saying.
Three weeks later the first symptoms of the ailment was visible which continued to worsen over the next few months.
Phoebe, 24, who lives near Brighton, said: "She was still jerking and she wasn't gaining weight and she was still bald - and my health visitor thought I was neglecting her."
Finally it was at London's Great Ormond Street children's hospital that her parents come to know about their daughter’s rare illness.
Phoebe said,"A doctor there took one look at her and knew straight away what it was.
"He said we had to care for Ashanti as if she was an old person, as her body would age so fast. It was devastating but I knew I had to carry on and cope with it."
Now Ashanti goes to a mainstream school and loves to cuddle her pup Samson.
Progeria, a rare disorder
Progeria, a result of a defective gene, is not hereditary. Ashanti’s 4-year-old sister Brandy Lou does not have it.
Also, 12-year-old Hayley Okines, who lives in Bexhill-on-Sea, near Ashanti, is one of the 52 other sufferers of the disease across the world.
Hayley and Ashanti, the only Progeria patients throughout UK, are good friends and have met each other a couple of times.
