Sampson Gordon or more commonly known as ‘Sam Bern’ is a 20 year old student who looks like an 80 years old man, his teeth are gone, his bones are weak, hairs have fallen and he can’t run or play games. It’s because of a rare disease which is called Progeria.
It is a rare disease with only 1 such case in 4 million births, currently there are only few dozen patients of Progeria in the world. The total known cases of Progeria in medical history are only 140.
Unfortunately no treatment has been found effective for the disease. Same Bern is also affected by the disease and that’s why he looks like an old man.
Most of the patients die before their 13th birthday but few are lucky to survive longer and Sam Bern was among those lucky people. He was born on October 23, 1996 and died on January 10, 2014.
He lived for 17 years during which he raised awareness about Progeria. HBO also aired a documentary film ‘Life According to Sam’ in 2013. His TED Talk ‘My Philosophy for a Happy Life’ was watched by more than 34 million people on YouTube.