Brooke the Immortal

[boston bean]

Brooke Greenberg is almost 18, but she has remained mentally and physically at the level of a toddler. An American physician is trying to uncover the child's secret, because he wants to give mankind the gift of eternal life.

It is possible that the key to immortality is hidden in this delicate girl, who is only about 76 centimeters (2 feet, 6 inches) tall and weighs seven kilograms (15.4 pounds). Her arms and legs are as fragile as the branches of a young tree. Her laugh sounds like the whimper of a puppy; she has hazel eyes. And when Brooke Greenberg wants her mother she stretches out her tiny arms, shakes her head slowly, and twists her face into a lopsided moue.


"Come here, Brooke, yes, you are a pretty girl." Melanie Greenberg, 49, picks up the fragile looking child and gently strokes her back. "She loves being held," says Greenberg, a mother of four. Brooke's sisters are named Emily, Caitlin and Carly. Brooke is the second youngest. She will be 18 in January.

Other girls her age are driving, going out dancing and sleeping with their first boyfriends. But for Brooke it's as if time had stood still. Mentally and physically, the girl remains at the level of an 11-month-old baby.

"Brooke is a miracle," says her father, Howard Greenberg. "Brooke is a

edit to add link: http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,725798,00.html

[drm604]

1. Here's a link

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,725798,00.html

[boston bean]

2. thanks drm604, meant to put that in there! I'll edit now!