{"id":192,"date":"2025-01-04T11:14:27","date_gmt":"2025-01-04T11:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/?p=192"},"modified":"2025-01-04T11:14:27","modified_gmt":"2025-01-04T11:14:27","slug":"teen-who-aged-8-times-faster-and-dreamt-of-marrying-passes-away-before-christmas-her-final-message-will-make-you-cry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/?p=192","title":{"rendered":"Teen who aged 8 times faster and dreamt of marrying passes away before Christmas: Her final message will make you cry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beandri Booysen: Girl In South Africa With Progeria Dies<\/p>\n

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Beandri Booysen, a teenage girl who radiated an undeniable \u201chope and joy\u201d for life despite suffering from an extremely rare aging disease, passed away just days before Christmas. She was 19 years old.<\/p>\n

Diagnosed at seven months old with Progeria \u2014 also known as Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome \u2014 Beandri was not expected to live past the age of 14, as her condition forced her to age eight times faster than the average human.<\/p>\n

But in her nearly two decades of life, her heartwarming content on social media inspired thousands of viewers online.<\/p>\n

A teenage girl, who suffered from a condition that caused her body to age prematurely, has sadly passed away<\/p>\n

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Image credits: Bea Booysen<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, December 18, her mother, Bea Booysene, confirmed the news on her daughter\u2019s Facebook page titled \u201cIn Loving Memory of Beandri Booysen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Beandri Booysen, one of South Africa\u2019s most beloved and inspirational young women,\u201d Bea wrote in a text now translated into English.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeandri was not only known for her vibrant personality and infectious laugh, but was also the last surviving person in South Africa to live with Progeria.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Image credits: Bea Booysen<\/p>\n

She continued, \u201cShe was a voice and a symbol of awareness for Progeria and other special needs, and inspired thousands with her unique spirit. She never stopped fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n

While a memorial service is yet to be announced, her family has requested privacy during this \u201cextremely difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beandri\u2019s presence on social media was undeniable, as she used her platform to \u201craise awareness\u201d<\/p>\n

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Image credits: Bea Booysen<\/p>\n

From the beginning, Beandri\u2019s motto was simple: \u201cBe yourself. Love yourself. Believe in yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old was determined to show exactly that on TikTok, where she had nearly 300,000 followers, with many of her videos garnering hundreds of thousands of views.<\/p>\n

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Image credits: Bea Booysen<\/p>\n

In an interview earlier this year, Beandri spoke about how she wished to use social media as a way to \u201cinspire\u201d and \u201cmotivate\u201d her audience, sharing tips on how to adapt her positive mindset.<\/p>\n

\u201cI face everything that God brings into my life and I credit my family for my strength and support by raising me as a \u2018normal\u2019 child and not one to be seen as different to others,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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Image credits: Bea Booysen<\/p>\n

Her hope was to highlight \u201cother special needs individuals and show that everyone is different and unique in their own way and to give strength\u201d in any way she could.<\/p>\n

According to the Daily Mail, Beandri only weighed 12kg. Despite this setback, she still attended school and had big dreams of settling down and having kids at 25 years old \u2014 before hopefully landing a job as a teacher.<\/p>\n

Beandri was determined to spread positivity, despite her limiting disease<\/p>\n

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Image credits: Bea Booysen<\/p>\n

The odds of having a child with progeria are 1 in 4 million, as per the Cleveland Clinic. This means only 400 young adults and children in the world currently suffer from the disease.<\/p>\n

Symptoms start to show within a toddler\u2019s first two years of life which include\u2014but are not limited to\u2014wrinkled skin, growth failure, balding, and loss of body fat.<\/p>\n

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Image credits: Bea Booysen<\/p>\n

The average life expectancy hovers at around 14-15 years old. Some may die younger while others can live to see their second decade of life.<\/p>\n

While there is currently no cure for progeria, researchers are actively studying various drugs in order to treat this condition.<\/p>\n

Netizens offered their condolences and reflected on her continuously optimistic outlook<\/p>\n

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Beandri Booysen: Girl In South Africa With Progeria Dies Beandri Booysen, a teenage girl who radiated an undeniable \u201chope and joy\u201d for life despite suffering from an extremely rare aging disease, passed away just days before Christmas. She was 19 years old. Diagnosed at seven months old with Progeria \u2014 also known as Hutchinson-Gilford progeria […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":194,"href":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions\/194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}