The friends and family of a young girl with a rapid aging disease have paid tribute to her after she died, aged just 18.
Ashanti Smith suffered from progeria, a disease that causes the body to rapidly age and significantly cuts life expectancy. However, her friends and family hope that her story can now be inspiration to others in difficult times.
Ashanti's mum, Phoebe Louise Smith, speaking to the Daily Mail, said:
"Ashanti's life was a joy. Even though progeria affected her mobility, it didn't affect anything else. She was a typical, stroppy 18-year-old and I loved everything about her. She was brilliant, she was gobby. She spoke her mind and everyone knew it."
She also spoke of how she lived like any other 18-year-old, despite the health implications of her daughter's disease, even going out for cocktails on her 18th birthday:
"She was louder – louder than me – and I'm a very loud person. There are photos of her first getting ID'd. We all took her out to the pubs, me and all the girls. We took her to three pubs three weeks ago. She got tipsy and she loved it. Her favourite drink was Sex on the Beach. Her condition affected her mobility to walk as far. She had a broken hip and it had to be set back in three times, then eventually it came out again and she just walked with a broken hip. That child, my little girl, wouldn't get in a buggy. She'd either be carried or she'd walk. You'd ask if she wanted a drink, she'd say 'I'll get it – what are you treating me different for?' She was very strong. It didn't affect her will."
Adding:
"Her condition didn't affect her [mentally] at all. She was just, normal. She was like any other child. To be with her, she was just like everybody else. [On the outside] she was 100 and on the inside, she was 18. [On the day she died] she was walking around, having KFC, walking around the park – absolutely fine. Then it came on sudden and it was about half an hour. It was very upsetting. She had been feeling a bit sick. Shaine brought her home because she said she wanted her mother, [then her condition worsened]. She struggled but she said 'Mum, I love you. You've got to let me go'."
[Based on reporting by: I heart Intelligence]
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