At first glance, you’ll probably assume Bayezid Hossain is already in his 80s.
4-year-old Hossain, from outside Magura, southern Bangladesh, suffers a swollen face, hollow eyes, sagging skin, aching joints, difficulties passing urine, and already has weak and broken teeth.
Hossain has earned the nickname “real-life Benjamin Button,” after the Brad Pitt movie entitled “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”
In the said Hollywood film, Pitt played the role of a man who ages backward as he started life looking like an old dwarf and then returned back into a baby’s countenance before he died.
Children in his village, where he is affectionately referred to as ‘old man,’ were afraid to play with him at first – even though his father says he is much smarter than others the same age.
When Hossain was born in 2012, his parents Tripti and Lovelu were shocked by his appearance. He was really thin and his face strangely resembled an alien. Even the doctors themselves were unsure about what to do.
Not only was it hard for her to deal with the abnormality and rare condition, but Tripti was also just a child herself when she gave birth to her son. She was a teenage mother, and it was very hard for her to wrap her head around what was happening.
Eventually, a doctor from the Magura Central Hospital checked the boy and said that he may only have fifteen years to live as he is suffering from progeria, an extremely rare kind of genetic disorder that ages the body at eight times the normal rate.
Furthermore, it’s been said that Hossain needs specialized care in a hospital with more specialists and better equipment found in Dhaka, Bangladesh. This, however, presents a big challenge for the family because Lovelu only manages to make around $75 a month in his work as a laborer. So far, they have already spent about $5,290 on Hossain’s treatments.
Unfortunately, Tripti and Lovelu received no help from their local community, who instead gossiped about their child, and discussed their capabilities as parents, given that they are also cousins.
Anyone who spends some time with Bayezid quickly realizes he’s a kid just like every other kid, except he looks different. That’s why the neighbors, who know him well, have nicknamed him “The Old Man.”
His dad, Lovelu, has accepted that there may not be a cure for Bayezid, but also believes that his son isn’t getting the best chance of survival because his family are poor.
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Source: AWM