Jerly Lyngdoh, The 'Man-Baby'

Jerly Lyngdoh, the worlds oldest baby, has Doctors and Pediatricians scratching their heads.

Jerly Lyngdoh is an adult trapped, perhaps forever, in a baby's body and mind.

Born on March 29, 1983, in Meghalaya, Jerly has not grown beyond 84 cm which is the normal height of a two-year-old baby and weighs about 10 kg. His features and head circumference are that of a small child. He also has the mental capacity of a child that age, making him, quite literally, the worlds oldest baby. His parents still dress him in baby clothing. He cannot communicate and needs his mother's help for any normal activity. In fact, the only sign of adulthood in him is his denture, his milk teeth having been replaced at the right age.

Jerly's mother said she did not notice any abnormality when her son was born but when he was about four months, she noticed some kind of an epileptic disorder. Too poor to afford proper treatment, she had relied on a traditional healer after Jerly became 15 years old, but to no avail.

Lyngdoh has a rare pituitary condition known as pan-hypo pituitarism, which causes limited secretion of growth hormones from the pituitary gland. His condition is the opposite of progeria, or advanced ageing.

Although ,Jerly's six siblings from the same mother are normal, his mother, had to battle family prejudices and endure neighbours' derision to keep her son surviving. Once, she recalled, Jerly's grandfather had labelled him as a curse on the family and even advised her to throw him away.

Now, I know a few people who would have preferred to live like that always and still do behave as if they are perpetual toddlers.

But, if you think you had quite a burden of problems upon your shoulders and feel life has been cruel to you and that things are quite 'abnormal' always with you, just spare a thought upon this poor 'man' and his mother, who does'nt know what normalcy is.