Brooke Greenberg: The Girl Who Doesn’t Age - - Sixteen-year-old Girl Weighs Only 30 Pounds and Only 30 Inches Tall

Medical history—recent and otherwise—is filled with jaw-dropping oddities, miraculous recoveries, and unsolved mysteries. There is more to these cases than shock value, however. What headlines call “miracles” are a testament to human resilience, and so-called medical mysteries remind us just how much we have to learn about the body and mind.

Brooke Greenberg: The Girl Who Doesn’t Age

Brooke Greenberg is 30 inches tall and weighs 30 pounds. She looks like a toddler and has the mind of a toddler—but she is actually 16 years old.

Brooke Greenberg's hair and nails are the only parts of her body that have grown since she was 4. Growth hormone therapy has had no effect, and doctors are baffled by her condition. Researchers have been studying her DNA in search of a genetic mutation that might unlock the fountain of youth that keeps her young. Her family, meanwhile, has accepted that Brooke Greenberg will likely be a baby forever.