US Hope to Let UK’s Hayley, 9, Live Longer

A nine-year-old British girl suffering from a rare premature ageing disease is to undergo a pioneering drug trial in the United States next week.

Hayley Okines ages eight times faster than she should because she suffers from Progeria, a progressive terminal condition which afflicts about 45 people worldwide.

People born with Progeria look healthy but begin to display many signs of accelerated ageing at around 18 months old including stunted growth, loss of body fat and aged skin.

Although their mental development is not hampered, children with the condition die of heart disease at an average age of 13.

Hayley’s mother Kerry, from Bexhill, East Sussex, is hoping the drug trial at Boston’s Children’s Hospital next week will lead on to the premature ageing process stopping.

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