Sam Berns, Teen Who Battled Accelerated Aging Disease, Dead at 17

Progeria causes musculoskeletal degeneration, cardiovascular problems and other symptoms of human aging

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A teen who became an advocate and public face of the accelerated aging disease progeria died Friday night in Foxborough, Massachusetts. He was 17, the Boston Globe reports.

Sam Berns was the subject of the documentary “Life According to Sam,” about the efforts of his parents—both of them doctors—to identify drug treatment that prolongs the lives of children with progeria. In 2003, they identified the gene that causes the condition, and since then have developed drug treatment.

Doctors diagnosed Bern when he was a toddler, and was told that he might not live past 13. Progeria causes musculoskeletal degeneration, cardiovascular problems, and other symptoms of human aging.

[Boston Globe]