3-Year-Old Girl Looks Like a Baby, Doesn't Age Because of Syndrome X - What Is It?

• comments
• 
• 

An Oklahoma girl still looks like a baby despite already being 3 years old as she is afflicted with a rare condition that does not allow her to age normally.

Layla Qualls, the 3-year-old girl from Oklahoma who still looks like a baby, has a condition called Syndrome X.

Syndrome X, also known as Metabolic Syndrome, is a cluster of disorders that can increase diabetes and heart disease risk. Risk factors include high blood pressure, high blood sugar, low HDL cholesterol and high triglycerides, according to WebMD.

According to News9.com, Layla is one of seven children worldwide who have the extremely rare condition. She celebrated her third birthday last May 3 and at 19 pounds, she still looks like a 10-month-old infant.

Layla is the second child born to Jesse and Felicia Sapp. The news channel noted that Layla not eating was one of the signs that the little girl was not normal.

"She just wouldn't eat," Jesse told News9.com. "I mean we couldn't get her to drink a bottle to save her life."

"She's seen, it seems, like every specialist there is, everything comes back normal," Jesse added.

"And that is frustrating because you know after all those tests, they're all normal but we know she's not normal," added Felicia in the news.

Researcher Dr. Richard Walker says he hopes to unveil the "genetic blueprint" of the condition to know which genes are involved in the slow aging process.

Dr. Stever Horvath, also a researcher, is conducting the study through blood samples to analyze its DNA. He wants to know why children with Syndrome X are not developing physically and mentally in a normal manner

In their findings, the team was able to find out that blood from Syndrome X children is not any different from that of a normal child.

"It would have been nice to say we found a footprint of the mechanism that could explain that condition," said Dr. Horvath. "As a researcher you need to continue searching."

Jesse and Felicia are hoping for answers but no matter what, they will still love Layla.

"It would be nice to kind of know, maybe they'll discover something but it doesn't matter," said Jesse.

"She might be like this forever and she might not walk and do other things that other children do but that's okay with us, we still love her," said Felicia.

The researchers from the Los Angeles University of California will collect more tissue samples for more research regarding Layla's condition. They will also be conducting a genetic study on this condition on children.