Due to a strange illness, a 5 year old was 15 years old | Chronic

At the age of 2, her first pubic hair began to grow. Something that usually happens after 12 years in a man's life, when the body enters puberty. But the American Patrick Burleigh who undergoes a mutation is so rare that at 5 years old and seemed to be 15 years old.

His childhood was not simple. In the same way that his father and before his grandfather, suffers from the disease called testotoxicosis, known as "precocious puberty" that triggers the physical changes badociated with adolescence.

"When I was 6 or 7 years old, I was already used to being observed and observed physically, it was clearly different", expressed the man.

Patrick suffers from a strange illness that makes his testicles believe that it's time to produce testosterone. Patrick lived in New York and his appearance surprised any place or event for children. He has innumerable memories of times when he has had a bad time

"My first memory is the feeling of being socially irrelevant, of feeling good. Because it was not just the pubic hair, it was the physical changes. At the age of 4 or 5, I had the body of a boy of almost 10 years old. I had the impression that it was wrong and that it marked my childhood. "he explained. His appearance was that of a teenager, but his behavior was that of a child.

In addition, experts find no explanation, mention that it is a strange mutation and estimate a maximum of 1,000 cases worldwide, although this number can not be specified.

"I was going to swim in clbad and my mother took me to the women's locker room because I was 4 but she looked much older." A woman scolded us and started screaming, embarrbading us "He said and said that when such scenes occurred, his mother was trying to explain to people what was going on, but they reacted with skepticism.

"It was hard for me, but also for her, psychologically, it was very stressful" Patrick said, revealing his relationship with his mother.

One day, her mother saw an advertisement in the newspaper about a medical badysis looking for patients with this genetic mutation to develop a comprehensive study. Then he decided to take it for badysis. In this way, the young man became a guinea pig for the experiments.

Patrick started spending two weeks every six months at the hospital and, in return, received free treatment for his condition.

"People have seen me as a crackpot."

Patrick tells from that period that he remembers a "keychain" balloon that was actually a medical device to compare his testicles and to know their size.

"So I was there, lying on the bed, with my mother next to me and a group of doctors and nurses who wore what looked like a key ring with wooden balls," detailed.

"They did all kinds of exams. I measured my testicles, which was one of the main variables to determine my physical age "he explained.

The symptoms started to normalize at the age of 10: "I had to take a lot of pills and for a long time they gave me a leg puncture every night." If I slept at a friend's house, my mother would seem to put it on and go home. ".

At school, his life has not improved. He felt "big, hairy and wanting to fight"In part, it was his way of responding to bullying.

"I was called a bad boy at school, which is frustrating because I did not want to be that kid. Nobody wants"Remember, after being treated as a troubled man, Patrick started to behave as such, smoking cigarettes at the age of 9 and marijuana a little later.

At the age of 11, doctors decided to go on treatment, believing that his body was at the same level as any other 17-year-old child. Then things got worse. "All the hormones that had been retained with the drug were released suddenly and all the bad behaviors were accentuated."he explained.

The boy started dating a 17 year old girl while he was only 12 years old. He had told her that he was 16 years old and believed him. With that, he tried LSD one night. "I took two tablets, one dose twice more than usual, and the next morning I told my parents that I did not want to go to school."he said.

Because of his history of school dropout, his parents sent him to school. "I told my friends at lunch time, of course, I exaggerated saying that it was fantastic and one of them was thought it would be a good idea to pour it into someone's glbad without realizing it."

However, one of his friends started to feel bad and Patrick had to confess. "They arrested me, they took me out of the handcuffed school and put me in a police car, it was a turning point in my life".

When he realized how his life was going, he brought a real change at the age of 15: "I forgot friends who were drugging, I started studying, playing sports and decided to go to university." started to manage this as my father had done.I did not tell anyone about my illness or the behavior that I had.I was ashamed of my past and I did not want to that someone judge me"

Patrick has managed to come to terms with himself. "In a way, telling my story was refreshing" revealed