JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The elfin child with the big personality and bright smile calls herself “the first lady” and dreams of the future. But doctors say 12-year-old Ontlametse Phalatse has only, perhaps, another couple of years to live.
“I call myself a first lady because I’m the first black child with this disease … Which other black child do you know with this disease?” she challenged.
Ontlametse is the first black child diagnosed with progeria, a rare and fatal genetic condition that accelerates the aging process.
 
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