Boy, 11, trapped in body of a pensioner due to ageing disease prepares for first day of secondary school
By Daily Mail Reporter
27th August 2010
Like his new classmates, Harry Crowther is excited to be starting secondary school next week.
But the sprightly 11-year-old has a few extra preparations to make because he suffers from progeria - a rare genetic disease that makes him age five times faster than normal.
Harry, from Kirklees, West Yorkshire, has had a specially-made blazer to fit his small frame.
The youngster, who suffers the aches and pains of a pensioner, has also had a special bag that converts into a seat cushion to make lessons more bearable.
Harry has arthritis in his fingers, toes, knees, elbows and wrists.
His mother Sharron said: 'We've had a meeting with the school and he's going to be allowed to leave lessons five minutes earlier to avoid corridor crushes.
'They're also going to put his locker in a quieter area and he won't be allowed to do contact sports in PE like football or rugby.
'It's not that we want him to get preferential treatment, but he needs to avoid big crowds where he could get bumped.
'With him being small and bruising easily, we don't want him to get hurt.'
Harry lives with his mother and IT director father John 41, sister Emma, 16 and 14-year-old brother Jack.
When Harry was born at Dewsbury District Hospital there was no indication there was anything seriously wrong.
Medics first thought he had a cleft palate, but tests revealed his mouth was normal.
Yet by the time he was one, Harry had developed large brown freckles under his armpits and the skin across his abdomen became tighter. As he started school, the youngster's face began to alter and he was eventually referred to a geneticist at Leeds General Infirmary.
For years, Harry's symptoms baffled medics until his parents saw a programme about a girl with Hutchinson Guilford Progeris Syndrome - the nearest illness to Harry's condition - and the penny dropped.
Harry was diagnosed with A-typical Progeria Syndrome at the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, U.S when he was seven. The oldest sufferer of a similar condition survived to the age of 26.
For now, Harry is concentrating on his first day at Castle Hall School.
The student, who would like to be a marine biologist, said: 'I'm looking forward to it but I don't know my way around the school, which I'm a bit worried about.
'If people stare, I'll just ignore them and deal with it. When my arthritis comes on, I just stop and take a break.
'I'm looking forward to chemistry most. I love doing experiments.'
His mother, a pre-school manager, added: 'It is a big milestone getting Harry here, after the years of not knowing what was wrong with him.
'I am really worried about him, especially as his other school saw him through from his diagnosis.
'It is such a big school with about 800 pupils. I just hope all the information about Harry is going to get across to people like supply teachers.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... z0xpUVzwhj
