Howard and Melanie Greenberg gave birth to their beautiful baby girl, Brooke. Their daughter's health hurdles would leave doctors baffled for the next two decades, until she passed away.
Before she was six, Brooke experienced seven perforated stomach ulcers, a seizure, and a stroke — each condition would come and go, often mysteriously leaving no damage.
In fact, when Brooke was four, she fell asleep for 14 days straight. Doctors diagnosed her with a brain tumor. Howard and Melanie were certain they would lose their daughter, and they even bought a casket. However, Brooke did wake up, and the tumor miraculously disappeared.
It was around this time that Howard said it was apparent Brooke stopped aging. Howard and Melanie realized something was strange when her younger sister began to look older than her.
"The older she gets, the more unbelievable it gets," Melanie told WBAL.
Brooke would never weigh more than 16 pounds and would only reach 30 inches tall. For her entire life, she would be pushed around in a stroller. Her mind didn't develop much passed the mental capacity of a 2-year-old, although she was a joyful person, who recognized and loved her parents and three sisters.
Doctors would eventually diagnose Brooke with syndrome X, a condition that only seven other people in the world have. Doctors are still baffled by what causes the rare condition.
"She literally is the fountain of youth, if you think about it," Howard said. "She's shown me that as hard as it gets sometimes, the next day it can only get better."
In 2013, Brooke succumbed to her medical issues, but her life and legacy remain pivotal to understanding and helping others with syndrome X.
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H/T: ABC News / NY Daily News
