just caught this on an episode China‘s Mystery Files 中國神秘檔案. it’s a pretty darn odd ball case. basically WU Kang 吳康 is already 22 years old but looks completely like a 2 year old baby physically. he is only 86cm (less than 34″ tall or 2’10”) tall and weights 8.9kg (19.6 lbs) he is not a midge/dwarf. he lives in an isolated life and spends most of the time with his loving parents who looks like they are in the 40’s.
this link might link to a video, not sure. youtube does not have this episode yet. bugu.cntv.cn/life/science/kejibolan/classpage/video/20100709/100551.shtml
early on they took him to pediatricians and other doctors but none one was able to figure out what’s wrong. the couple were not close by blood relation at all so it is not a genetic defect from incest; close blood or anything like that. initially the parents were having second thoughts about having another baby because they were afraid that what if the 2nd baby is the same… but eventually they got over the fear and luckily the 2nd kid which is a boy turn out completely normal. the kid brother is 17 years old and grow to 178 cm (5’10”) so that’s quite normal.
eventually they went to a major city hospital and got help from a processor. they did some CT scans and determine that WU Kang has a tiny anterior pituitary 垂體前葉 and basically his body produces zero growth hormones. that’s why he have not grown physically for about 20 years. the main concern of WU Kang and her parents is they want to know if it is still possible for him to grow since he is already 22 years old. the doctors took some x ray of his hands to determine what “age” his bone structure is. the photo came out looking like a 1 year old baby. with huge gaps between the bones (no growth yet). so physically WU Kang is 100% like a baby. pretty amazing. :-)
strangely, his brain capacity definitely seems more than a 2 year old. his logic seems to function pretty well despite his mostly isolated life. he talks about how he would like to have a normal body, so he can go to school, get an education, and make money. when the reporter asked him what does he want to do with the money, he replied that he wanted to make money so he can give it to the parents and support them. :-) that’s is pretty damn sweet. the show ended with the doctor saying they will try to treat WU Kang with growth hormone injections and they hope to allow him to grow at 12-15cm a year.
when i googled for 不老嬰兒之謎 i noticed there’s a 17 years old girl name Brooke Greenberg n USA that still looks like 1 year old. that case is even more odd ball because the girl is 100% a 1 year old. she can’t talk and basically she’s a baby in diapers for the past 17 years. talk about bizarreness. the photo and the text links to two different articles.
hmm, actually upon further reading Brooke’s condition is quite different thatn WU Kang’s. Brooke has been described as “her aging process is disconnected with her bones showing chronological age of about 10 years while her vocalization are that of an infant.” WU Kang is physically 100% a year old but with the brain capacity of a much older… at least a teenager capacity. ahh the strange and wonders of the world.