His face is sculpted with deep wrinkles. They are irregular lines around his little eyes, parentheses around his smile, they cover his forehead like rivers and roads on a map. Its head doesn't have a single hair, just a shiny scalp with tight skin, a thin nose, hollow cheeks and a narrow jaw. He strolls along the sidewalk, his gait uneven – each step seems like a struggle, and he walks with a weak hand on his back for support. Any passerby would wonder where he was stationed in Vietnam, if he remembers the Great Depression, how often his grandchildren visit him...but he carries a Transformers lunchbox. He is on his way to primary school. This boy is ten years old and Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome has made him old before his time. Known in popular culture as "Benjamin Button Disease" for its symptomatic similarity to the condition of F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous character, Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, or progeria, baffles and fascinates scientists and the mainstream as a unique and extremely rare genetic disease that ages its victims internally and externally until their inevitable death in their teens or twenties. Affected children appear old and suffer from the same illnesses and organ failures that one would expect of their grandparents, making progeria both painfully tragic and devilishly interesting. Science is completely stumped by this disorder and is not even close to a conclusive cure, leaving sufferers only to treat each symptom individually as it appears. In fact, progeria exists quietly not only in the scientific world, but also in the public sphere, mostly left aside by the media. It's time, however, that progeria is... middle of paper...... losing her hair and eyesight before she graduates from college. That little boy with the Transformers lunchbox may smile with childish optimism, but with every step he takes he is aware that these years could very well be his last. Benjamin Button may have been born an old man, but he was able to experience the splendor of youth, a luxury these children will never have. For this reason, the notion of progeria as a “Benjamin Button disease” is offensive, and the courageous children who live with this disease every day deserve more respect than this inappropriate term gives them. With every scientific study, every eye turned to a microscope, and every pen turned to a page, the world moves closer to a cure. In the meantime, brave progeria victims and their families await the day when progeria is controlled, progeria is a thing of the past, and children can be children..