This 5-year-old girl named Lina Medina from Ticrapo Peru proved that puberty is a fleeting and confusing thing that can hit anyone at any time. She was born on September 27, 1933 and was a normal kid until one day her parents noticed that her stomach increased abruptly in size, while he body became mature enough. They believed it being a tumor, thus brought her to the hospital. The parents and the doctors were shocked when they discovered that Lina actually did not have a tumor, but instead was seven months pregnant.
The doctors took x-rays of her uterus to confirm it and studied her hormones. The parents also found out that the girl had regular period which suddenly stopped. This bizarre event baffled the doctors, thus she was transferred to a hospital in Lima, Peru for observation.
Lina gave births to a baby boy through C-section because her pelvis did not have enough space to deliver the baby with 6 pounds (normal for most babies). This happened on May 14, 1939, making Lina be the world’s youngest mother. She named the baby after the doctor, Gerardo.
During the operation, the doctors discovered that she had developed mammary glands and sexual organs. This rare condition was named “precocious puberty”. The alleged father was arrested for suspected rape and abuse, but was released because there was no evidence. However, they never found out who the father was.
Dr. Edmundo Escomel reported this rare case in the medical journal La Presse Medicale explaining the details about her first period at the age of 8 months, earlier than the parents reported to the doctors. At the age of 4 she had a prominent breast development, and by 5 her figure displayed pelvic widening and advance bone maturation.
Gerarrdo was raised with the belief that Lina was his sister, but at the age of 10 he was told the truth. However, the family continued living their normal life. LIna worked as a secretary in the Lima clinic of Liozada. She was provided with education and helped put her son through high school. Later she married Raul Jurado and gave birth to her second son in 1972.
Unfortunately, her older son, 7 years after her marriage, died at the age of 40 due to bone marrow disease.
Lina still lives with her husband in a poor district in Lima, Peru which is familiar by the name “Little Chicago” as of 2002. She continues attracting media attention, but turned away many reports for the past years.
X-rays and medical papers confirm this case and even Snopes, a site which debunks hoaxes, classified this to be a real story.
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