This is fascinating. I can't imagine any "fountain of youth" business that we could stand to gain but we COULD get an idea of what actually causes aging from this, and narrow down the sources of diseases that do come from age. I also can't help but wonder what is going on in her mind. I couldn't watch the video at the end but I really want to know - is she actually like a normal five year-old, mentally? Does she have the same capacity for abstract thought, or factual knowledge? What is her learning like? Does she attend school? I must admit this is the first I've heard of her, and I want to understand better so I am not ignorant of what she is like, and what her condition actually entails. Her constant health conditions early in life sound tragic but I'm impressed with how she bounced back. Could those health concerns have caused her current condition, or triggered it? I presume she "ages" in a way that she may, in fact, die of old age, because the alternative is TOO fantastic to believe (fantastic in the unrealistic sense, not that it's such a wonderful or good thing).
It is really interesting that her telomeres are shortening at a normal rate. Most scientists think that is the root cause of aging at a cellular level. Walker et al. 2009
I find the telomere hypothesis to be a bit silly. There isn't a thing (molecular biologically speaking) that causes aging. There is, however, entropy. Organisms are far too ordered to stayed sable for a long period of time. My guess is that the degradation of organisms is general and protracted, and not due to one or several molecular processes.
I'm not saying that telomeres are the only thing that cause aging. But there is an important association between cellular degradation and reduction of telomeres. I'm just surprised that hers are shortening at a normal rate, I would have expected some deviation from the normal rate. I agree with your point re: entropy.
Yeah! I couldn't believe that part. It throws out the window one of the strongest pieces of evidence for aging we knew about!