Teen suffers from one-in-seven-billion disability that means he will always look like a toddler

A British teenager is suffering from a one-in-seven billion disability, which means he will look like a toddler for the rest of his life.

Angus Palmes weights little more than 13 kilograms and stopped growing when he was just three year old.

The 13-year-old’s chromosome abnormality has seen him go under the knife more than 40 times for an array of life-saving procedures.

Doctors only discovered the condition by accident while carrying out routine checks on the newborn, but the extent of Angus' disability wasn't conveyed to his mother Tandy.

“They didn't tell me he was going to be like a child for the rest of his life,” she told the Manchester Evening News.

“They said they found it by accident and unfortunate thing was they had no record of anybody else having it.”

She said Angus can’t talk, has limited motor skills and is still wearing clothes for “people ten years younger than him".

With so little known about his condition, Tandy conceded she has “absolutely no idea” what kind of life expectancy Angus has.

The mother said the teen has had open-heart surgery and his feet have been
“corrected with something called Ponseti treatment, the fundoplication for his gastroesophageal reflux”.

“You name it, he's had it,” Tandy said.

A regular fixture at his older brother Otis’ cricket games, the wheelchair bound youngster is well known amongst the Macclesfield community.

“Luckily Angus is always so smiley and that engages people to speak to us,” Tandy added.

“When people ask me how old Angus is I say 13, they think I mean 13 months.”

Angus has attended Macclesfield's Park Lane School, which specialises in teaching children with communication difficulties for children up to 19 years old.