Hayley Okines, Beloved Teenager Trapped In 104-Year-Old Body, Passes Away At 17

“My baby girl has gone somewhere better. She took her last breath in my arms at 9.39pm.” (Photo: Old Before My Time / Facebook) 

Hayley Okines, the courageous 17-year-old from England with a rare and fatal condition that prematurely aged her body nearly eight times faster than normal, passed away Thursday night. Her mother, Kerry, posted the announcement on Facebook: “My baby girl has gone somewhere better. She took her last breath in my arms at 9.39pm x.”

 

Hayley with other children with progeria, and posting with Justin Bieber. (Hayley Okines / Facebook) 

According to the Progeria Research Foundation, this disease is caused by a mutation in the gene called LMNA (pronounced, lamin - a). Children with progeria begin to display signs of this condition, which include growth failure, loss of body fat and hair, wrinkled skin and stiff joints at around 18-24 months and eventually die of heart disease (atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries). 

While the average life span of children with this incurable condition is 14 (Hayley was told she wouldn’t make it past her 13^th birthday and she lost her best friend to progeria at the age of 11), she surpassed the odds after taking part in a pioneer drug treatment in the United States. She also rose to international celebrity status after appearing in the British TV series “Extraordinary People,” which gave her and her family the opportunity to raised awareness about this disease.