http://news.aol.com/health/story/_a/at-115-woman-defies-incredible-odds/20080418164209990001
This woman is incredible ! She turned 115 today ! She was born in 1893. My great-grandma was born in 1894 and lived until the end of 1995.
This woman almost died at 100 but she escaped death and 15 years later she is still alive.
Can you imagine all the changes she's witnessed ? She's lived to welcome the 20th and the 21st century (Who can say that they have lived in three centuries ?)
She has lived in a time when there were no cars, radios, televisions, she has lived through both world wars and was a senior when Kennedy was the president. Man, if I were around her I would be peppering her with so many questions.
I think it is wonderful that someone can live that long. That is a huge accomplishment, especially since while I believe that while the length of our lives has to do somewhat with genetics, that lifestyle is also another important factor. I am sure she lived a healthy life and took care of herself.
On the other hand, I am sure it has its drawbacks. Especially when you outlive your children. Also when you realize that most of your close friends you knew have been dead for so many years.
I don't know if I would like to live to be that old. Maybe if I were relatively healthy and not bedridden. My great grandmother was bedridden in her last years and I could see in her eyes that it was like a prison. She was a very strong, independent woman and I think in the end she was happy to go.
Anyway, in case the link above expires, here is a copy below from the article.
At 115, Woman Defies Incredible Odds
By RICK CALLAHAN,
AP
Posted: 2008-04-19 20:02:41
SHELBYVILLE, Ind. (April 18) - Maybe it was a lifetime of chores on the family farm that account for Edna Parker's long life. Or maybe just good genes explain why the world's oldest known person turns 115 on Sunday, defying staggering odds.
Meet the World's
Oldest People
Edna Parker, who is recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest known person, turns 115 on Sunday. Researchers want to know why she and other supercentenarians -- people 110 and older -- enjoy such long lives. Here, Parker holds a rose given to her Friday at an early birthday party.
Scientists who study longevity hope Parker and others who live to 110 or beyond -- they're called supercentenarians -- can help uncover the mystery of extreme longevity.
"We don't know why she's lived so long," said Don Parker, her 59-year-old grandson. "But she's never been a worrier and she's always been a thin person, so maybe that has something to do with it."
On Friday, Parker laughed and smiled as relatives and guests released 115 balloons into sunny skies outside her nursing home. Dressed in pearls, a blue and white polka dot dress and new white shoes, she clutched a red rose during the festivities.
Two years ago, researchers from the New England Centenarian Study at Boston University took a blood sample from Parker for the group's DNA database of supercentenarians.
Her DNA is now preserved with samples of about 100 other people who made the 110-year milestone and whose genes are being analyzed, said Dr. Tom Perls, an aging specialist who directs the project.
"They're really our best bet for finding the elusive Holy Grail of our field -- which are these longevity-enabling genes," he said.
There are only 75 people alive -- 64 women and 11 men -- who are 110 or older, according to the Gerontology Research Group, an Inglewood, Calif.-based group that verifies reports of extreme ages.
Parker, who was born April 20, 1893, was recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest of that group last August after the death of a Japanese woman four months her senior.
A widow since her husband, Earl, died in 1938 of a heart attack, Parker lived alone in their farmhouse until age 100, when she moved into her son Clifford's home. She cheated death a few months later.
One winter's night, Clifford and his wife returned home from a high school basketball game to find her was missing. Don, their son, says he discovered his grandmother in the snowy darkness near the farm's apple orchard. He scooped up her rigid body and rushed back to the house.
"She was stiff as a 2-by-4. We really thought that was the end of her," he said.
But Parker recovered fully, suffering only frostbitten fingertips.
Fifteen years later, her room at the Heritage House Convalescent Center in Shelbyville, Ind., about 25 miles southeast of Indianapolis, is adorned with teddy bears and photos of her five grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and 13 great-great grandchildren. She's outlived her two sons, Clifford and Earl Jr.
During a visit this week, Parker was captivated by a new album of photos and documents from her life that Don's wife, Charlene, had assembled.
"That's the boys," she said hoarsely, tapping a photo of her two late sons in their youth. "Clifford and Junior."
Her two sisters also are deceased. Georgia lived to be 99, while her sister Opal was 88 when she died.
Parker's long-lived sisters are typical of other centenarians, according to Dr. Nir Barzilai, director of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine's Institute for Aging Research in New York. Nearly all of them have a sister, mother or other relative who lived a long life, he said.
"Longevity is in the family history," Barzilai said.
He and other scientists have found several genetic mutations in centenarians that may play a role in either slowing the aging process or boosting resistance to age-related diseases.
Perls said the secret to a long life is now believed to be a mix of genetics and environmental factors such as health habits. He said his research on about 1,500 centenarians hints at another factor that may protect people from illnesses such as heart attacks and stroke -- they appear not to dwell on stressful events.
"They seem to manage their stress better than the rest of us," he said.
1 comment:
I am too vain. I would have liked to have died when I was young and beautiful. hahahahahahaha... too late.
XX
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