Progeria: What You Need to Know About the 'Aging Disease'

Barbara Walters brought attention to progeria when she interviewed Kaylee Halko, a seven year-old little girl who has this rare but devastating disease. On Friday night, ABC's "20/20" reaired the touching episode that has been nominated for an Emmy.

As Kaylee and her family help to raise funds for research and to help promote awareness of progeria, here is more about what you need to know about the disease.

* Progeria is a rare and fatal genetic condition that causes children to age ten times faster than normal. The average life span of a child with this disease is only 13 years old. Many die due to atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, which is the leading cause cardiovascular disease and the number one killer in America.

* Progeria children experience the effects of aging as if their bodies are that of an eighty year-old, while they have the mind of a child. Some of the symptoms include balding, slowed growth, a disproportionately large head, visible veins, stiff joints and irregular heart beat.

* The classic type of progeria is Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria, or HGPS. The disease was named after the doctors who first described it in England in the late 19th century, Dr. Jonathan Hutchinson and Dr. Hastings Gilford.

* There are currently only 74 cases of progeria in the world, and there is no known cure.

* In nine out of ten children with progeria, they are found to have a mutation of the gene that is tasked with encoding the protein Lamin A. The condition is rarely found in more than one child in a family. Researchers believe that this genetic mutation renders cells unstable which lead to the extreme aging process.

* Though progeria is a genetic condition, it is not passed down through families. It's a chance occurrence that affects a single egg or sperm just before conception. The odds of progeria in a pregnancy are one in four to eight million.

* When a child with progeria is born, they look normal, but within a year, symptoms quickly begin to develop.

* The Progeria Research Foundation was formed after the parents of a child with progeria, Sam Berns, was diagnosed in 1998. As the disease was so rare, there was no support, no resources and no funding for research on progeria. The foundation was started in order to raise awareness as well as funding so that research into the cause and possible cure of the disease could be found.

* In 2003, the cause of the disease was found thanks to the PRF and the National Institute of Health.

* Children with progeria, like Kaylee Halko , Hayley Okines , and Sam Berns, are helping to raise funds in the effort to find a cure for this disease, and extend the lives of kids with progeria. Berns is the child that spurred the beginnings of the PRF. He is now 14 years-old. A film about Sam's life, called "Growing Up Old", will air on HBO in 2012.