GRATEFUL FOR MY LIFE

Doctors predicted she wouldn't live past 14, but Beandri Booysen has defied the odds and just wants to be treated like a normal Person

- NADINERAMONGANE

TURNING 18 and taking the first steps into adulthood is a big step for any teenager - but for this girl the milestone birthday was an even more momentous occasion.

Here she was, surrounded by the people she loved, alive against the odds and brimful of plans for the future.

It wasn't a scenario Beandri Booysen's doctors could ever have predicted. She was born with the extremely rare genetic condition Hutchinson-Gilford progeria, which has made her age eight times faster than other kids, resulting in her being old before her time.

The disorder has also led to all sorts of health issues, prompting medical experts to warn it was unlikely she'd live beyond the age of 14.

But when Beandri defied their grim expectations to make it to her landmark 18th birthday, her parents, Bea and Pieter, were so relieved they decided one party wasn't good enough - she deserved two.

First was a rainbow picnic with her parents and brothers, Jaco (34), Herman (34) and Ruben (25), followed by a neon-themed party a few days later with friends.

"It was a very nice birthday," Beandri tells YOU. "We played games and I had a good time with the people closest to me."

The plucky Pretoria teen is more determined than ever not to allow her condition, which is thought to affect just over 100 people worldwide, stop her from living life to the fullest.

"I might look different and my body might look older than I am, but I can hold my own," she says. "I live like a normal 18-year-old, but in my own way."

Beandri loves dancing, posting videos on Tik Tok and having weekend braais with her family. "I'd rather spend time with my family than hang out in a bar and not know what I did the previous night," she says.

There's no room for self-pity either. "No one knows better than I do what it's like to live with progeria. And yes, of course I look at life differently - but I take each day as it comes."