44-year-old woman is oldest living survivor of rapid aging disease

At 44 years old, Tiffany Wedekind is now believed to be one of the oldest living survivors of progeria, more commonly known as rapid aging disease.

The Columbus, Ohio-based artist lives a full life, although her ailments essentially have her living in an elderly woman’s body.

Standing at 4-feet-5, Wedekind weighs a mere 58 pounds — which often causes her to be mistaken for a child.

“I knew very early that something was different about me,” she recently told People. “But I just wanted to live my life and be like everybody else.”

She suffers from cardiovascular disease, arthritis and painful calcifications in her knees. She hides her thinning hair under wigs and wears 3D-printed dentures after losing the roots of her teeth, which also forced her to switch to a mostly liquid diet.

Still, throughout childhood, Wedekind took jazz, tap and ballet classes, played softball, basketball and tennis and enjoyed life like an average kid — but it was obvious something was different.

“I mean, I essentially looked like a little baby doll,” Wedekind said.

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When Wedekind was 7 years old, she had to have her teeth pulled when her baby teeth didn’t fall out naturally and then wore braces for six years. At 16, she developed mysterious white splotches on her skin that astounded doctors. In her 20s, her hair began to fall out and her teeth were deteriorating — yet doctors failed to give Wedekind a proper diagnosis.

Despite a lifetime of ailments and mysterious symptoms, Wedekind didn’t truly feel like she began struggling until her mid-30s.

Then her older brother Chad, who had grown up with similar symptoms, developed a variety of bone and heart issues pushing doctors to dig into the family’s genetics and they made their rare diagnosis.

Wedekind, then 38, her brother and their mother, Linda (with a milder case), were officially diagnosed with progeria. The third Wedekind sibling, Todd, and father Michael tested negative for the disease.

Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome is a rare congenital condition that causes the sufferer to age eight years for every year of their life. The aberration also causes severe heart problems, mobility issues and other complications associated with aging, according to the Mayo Clinic.

About a year later, Chad died from a heart attack at 39 years old. Linda, 73, lived with few symptoms until she recently developed heart disease and underwent treatment for blocked arteries to her heart.

The incurable disease is currently affecting 1 in 20 million people worldwide. It is often diagnosed at an early age and kills patients in their teens, making the Wedekind family some of the oldest survivors.

A narrowing aortic valve has Wedekind on constant alert for a possible heart attack like the one that killed her brother, but she doesn’t let that her stop her.

“I actually had a nurse tell me a couple years ago, ‘You’re only 42,’ ” she said. “I’m like, ‘Lady, I’m not even supposed to be alive. Don’t go by my age.’ “

Dr. Kim McBride, a geneticist who oversees Wedekind’s care, told People, “She still has this wonderful, amazing spark and joie de vivre.”

Wedekind continues to live her life the way she wants, but struggles with simple daily activities like chewing and walking barefoot.

“It’s little, simple things that people don’t even bat an eye over,” Wedekind told the Lantern.

However, Wedekind continues to live her life grateful for every moment she has. The creative launched her own candle brand in 2004 and has since expanded her business into a yoga and art collective called Wanderlust Studio.

The studio in Columbus allows her to showcase local artists and yoga instructors while working on her own schedule. When she’s not at her studio, Wedekind uses her social media accounts to share her story and inspire people to be grateful for today.

“There’s so many people that don’t live in the moment,” she said. “Right now is all we have. I just really want people to appreciate it.”