The Story of Lina Medina, the World's Youngest Mother
Lina was just like any other little girl her age. She enjoyed playing with her friends in her village and learning new things. After all she was just a child. However, when Lina was 5, her stomach began to bulge and her body began to mature abnormally for her age. Being from a small village, modern technology at the time just was not available for the little girl or her family. For months, her family watched her stomach get larger and eventually they came to the conclusion that she was gravely ill, as it was a fast growing tumor in her stomach.
When her family had the chance, they carried her to the Peruvian town of Pisco. But instead of finding out their daughter was dying from a tumor, they found out that Lina would be giving birth to a child soon. To confirm the pregnancy, doctors took x-rays of Lina's stomach and performed biopsies. Lina's father also explained that before her stomach started to swell, she was having regular periods that all of a sudden stopped. She was already just over 7 months pregnant by the time they confirmed her to be a mother. Pisco physicians were stunned by Lina's pregnancy and were not going to pass up the opportunity to study this so-called medical miracle. One of the physicians, Dr. Gerardo Lozada, transfered Lina to a hospital in Lima, Peru so she could be observed at all times.
Once she arrived at the Lima hospital, doctors concluded that she would have to have a cesarean section. Due to Lina's small frame and pelvis, it would have been impossible for her to give birth vaginally. When she was just 5 years 7 months and 21 days old on Mother's Day, May 14th, of 1939, she gave birth to a healthy 6-pound baby boy. She named him Gerardo, after her doctor.
The father of baby Gerardo was never determined. In fact, her father was jailed for incest and rape of Lina, but was let go due to lack of evidence. Lina herself never gave any answers to doctors on how she became impregnated.
When Lina gave birth, her family and she believed that the case was over with. However, doctors wanted to continue to research and study Lina's medical miracle. A new doctor and researcher was assigned to Lina. His name was Dr. Edmundo Escomel and he was one of Peru's best physicians. His role would put Lina's story on the map and show the world that her case was not a hoax.
Dr. Escomel's findings rocked the medical world. He discovered that Lina was having regular periods since she was 8 months old, much sooner than Lina's father had told doctors. Through tests, he confirmed that Lina's ovaries were fully developed and that her matured body was from a hormone disorder. All of Dr. Escomel's findings were documented and used later on by other doctors.
But Lina's family refused to let their daughter or grandchild spend their lives in hospitals and research facilities. When the child was a few months old, Gerardo and Lina returned home. Together, they decided to make the decision to raise Gerardo as Lina's younger brother. But when the child was 10 years old, they revealed that Lina was the actual mother.
Surprisingly, the Medina family went on to have a normal life. When Gerardo was 33, Lina gave birth to his younger brother. She had already married at the time. However, just seven years later, Lina would outlive Gerardo. He passed away at the age of 40 in 1979 from a bone marrow infection.
Today, Lina still lives with her husband Raul Jurado in a poor area of Lima, Peru. Their living son lives in Mexico. In 2002, Lina's name barely brushed the surface of media attention again when she refused to do an interview with Reuters.
Published by Rachel Bogart
I'm a college student from the Chicago suburbs with a passion for environmental issues. I've had my writing featured on the front page of Yahoo! and have had my work included in the EPA's Science Matters new... View profile
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- Originally her family believed she had a tumor.
- She gave birth 3 months before she turned 6.
- Her son died in 1979, but Lina still lives today.
90 Comments
Post a CommentHey Idiots!!!!!!!!!! I'm seeing way too many people post about how stupid her family was and everything, but i haven't seen many people show that they've done research on the area where she lived... don't insult her nor her family when you don't even know history/culture, OK? By the way to answer a question, i doubt they could've had a DNA test, i promise. why? do research -_- she lived in Paurange, Peru, start there.
this is a case of fetus in fetu.....not a pegnancy
Well if there's grass on the field...
wow...i knw dat had to hurt ....jus imagine it hurts when us grown women lose our virginity ..to imagine a five year old is jus disgusting my heart goes out to her...n its no telln how many times it happen to her til she got pregnant...whoever did i hope they are suffering jus like she did doing the process.
wow...i knw dat had to hurt ....jus imagine it hurts when us grown women lose our virginity ..to imagine a five year old is jus disgusting my heart goes out to her...n its no telln how many times it happen to her til she got pregnant...whoever did i hope they are suffering jus like she did doing the process.
I think the father of Lina's child is Lina's own father. I think her own father have raped her when she was about 4 in a half years old, thats why Lina's fathers went to prison for a long time until Lina had another unknown son.... How odd is that??????
How did Lina Medina became pregnant???
i found this very shocking to my hears an is hard to believe but anything can happen.i don't think that she got pregnant an she never had sex.i think her father raped her.he deserved to be in prison.i think she is really unique.its very interesting poor her in her young age don't really know what its like to take care of a child.
make that 45 years later
Wow this story is actually the saddest thing i have read/heard ever. I don't get how they do not no who the father is when they could have got DNA, someone had to be responsible for this, what sick cxnt would have sexual intercourse with a 5 year old girl, and what was wrong with her family, how would you not notice your child was pregnant wouldn't you think something was wrong if she was getting boobs and periods that early, obviously they didn't look after her enough to relise she was being raped,Im thirteen and even i no this!, i have a 5 year old sister and we never take our eyes of her, so how did this person find the time to have sex with her. This is very sad, i hope whoever did this got what they deserved, my heart goes out to Lina!