By Olumide T. Agunbiade
Lina Vanessa Medina Medina
Lopez made history back in May 1939 as the youngest mother known to man at the
age of 5 years old. At first, the parents of the young Lina Medina thought
their young daughter was suffering from an abdominal tumor. Her father took her
to hospital after the shamans in their remote village of Ticrapo District in
Peru failed to find a cure for her.
To everyone’s
bewilderment, the five-year old Lina was the mother of a baby boy a little over
a month later.Youngest-mother-ever
Medina herself was born on
September 27, 1933 in a little village called Paurange. At the time of giving
birth to her first born, Medina was five years and seven months old.
Coincidentally, she delivered on Mothers’ Day of May 14, 1939. For those of us
thinking far ahead, the delivery was done by caesarean. The boy child, weighing
2,700 grams, was in perfect condition and healthy. Mother and baby left the
clinic after just a few days.
Those thinking of
blackballing their young daughters can be on the lookout for these early
warning signs. Medina began menstruating at the age of 8 months, believe it or
not, breast and pubic hair started developing at the age of four years, her
bone hardening was quite advanced and body proportions were a bit incredible.
These are some of the signs of premature pregnancy.
The boy, named Gerardo after
one of the doctors who attended to his young mother, discovered at the age of
10 that the person whom he all along took to be his bigger sister was in fact
his mother. Gerardo passed away in 1979 aged 40 years from a bone marrow
disease. It could not be established if there was a link to his being born by
such a young mother.
