Remembering Seth Cook

nikhimenon@gmail.com

While browsing through one of the 'desi' entertainment channels(which still believes that 'zooming' into the 'menstrual cycles' of celebrities' would qualify as entertainment!) , happened to see the trailer of a 'yet to be released' Amitabh Bachan starrer titled 'Paa'.Incidentally it reminded me of an article (which i had come across a couple of weeks back) about a child called 'Seth Cook' who lived in the United states. For those who are wondering what Big B and this child have in common,here is the answer -Seth Cook had progeria.(Of course ,Bachan doesn't have Progeria,but his character in Paa has...!)

For the beginners,here is a useful piece of info. Progeria is a rare,non-heriditary genetic disease which occurs as a result of mutation.Also known as "Hutchinson–Gilford progeria syndrome" and "Hutchinson–Gilford syndrome)it is an extremely severe disease  wherein symptoms resembling aspects of ageing are manifested at an early age.The affected usually die in their teens though cases have been reported where the patients lived up to twenty years of age.In other words children(though their mental development will be normal) with progeria dont grow ,they age rather.No effective treatment is there for this condition.

Kyle Cook, (Seth's father ) and Patti Cook,(Seth's mother) were students of a high school from the tiny logging town of Darrington, Washington. Like every other bollywood movie; they met , started dating and a few twists and turns later  got married.Patty eventually got pregnant at the age of 21.On  July 22, 1993  Seth Anthony Cook ,the baby with blue eyes was born.All was fine till the baby was three months old,when the parents discovered that their child was not normal.Failure to gain weight(failure to thrive) and hairloss(alopecia) being the first symptoms.When Seth was two years old,the parents realised that their son was one among the 40 odd cases of progeria  diagnosed worldwide.

While weak hearted people like us would see this as a tragedy,Seth cook had the courage to underlook it and  he even  took his life as a blessing.NBC,USA had done a feature on him and he won over millions of people through his witty one liners and practical jokes.

He was made  an honorary sheriff's deputy, which incidentally was his  lifelong goal.

Seth passed away on June 25,2007 when he was thirteen years old due to  myocardial infarction which was a   consequence of his disease.

I came to know about him while i was collecting some information about progeria to write a paper on it.But after reading a lot of articles about his life, and watching the interview he had given to nbc online,i am pretty sure that i wont be able to forget this blue eyed,brave boy with a great sense of humour soon..

To read more about Seth  ,here is the link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=20119569


This post is dedicated to all the students in the country who don't think twice to end their lives when their exam results disappoint them ...!