Rare disease causes 23-year-old man to 'stop aging'

According to Oddity Central, 23-year-old Luiz Augusto Márcio Marques, who lives in Brazil, underwent multiple surgeries to remove a dangerously located brain tumor at the age of 12 and has shown no signs of aging since then.

Specifically, Marques was diagnosed with craniopharyngioma, an extremely rare brain tumor with an incidence rate of only 1 in 1 million people. Doctors told the family that the tumor needed to be removed, otherwise it would be fatal within days. However, the surgery itself carried significant risks, as the tumor's location could cause Marques to lose the ability to walk, speak, or move his eyes, and his normal development could also be affected.

Craniopharyngioma, an extremely rare type of brain tumor, has an incidence rate of only 1 in 1 million people.

Ultimately, the Marques family decided to take a risk and saved his life. Although he recovered almost completely, a series of subsequent tests revealed that Marques' pituitary gland had been affected, making it difficult for him to develop normally.

To compensate for pituitary gland dysfunction, doctors on Marques's treatment team suggested the family could have him injected with growth hormone, but this risked causing the remaining tumor in his brain to grow larger, so the family decided to forgo this option.

Even now, more than 10 years later, Marques is still 1.62 meters tall, weighs about 50 kg, and looks the same as he did when he was 13 years old. Doctors say it's difficult to predict how long this condition will continue and whether Marques will age like a normal person.

Marques himself admitted that the aftereffects of the surgery were difficult for him to accept. Not aging anymore made it hard for the young man to integrate into the lives of his peers. However, he has now been able to accept the reality and feels fortunate to still be alive after a long period of chemotherapy and undergoing a total of 12 head surgeries.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/benh-hiem-gap-khien-chang-trai-23-tuoi-ngung-lao-hoa-185230623025200744.htm