Chapter 1

"I'm afraid the news is not good, Mrs. Tyler."

The specialist sat across the desk from the anxious couple. He fingered the pen in his hand nervously, a mannerism which surfaced whenever he had to be the herald of unwelcome news.

"As you know we ran the tests a second and then a third time so there could be no doubt. The results are conclusive. The disease is no longer in remission."

Martin Tyler squeezed his wife's hand. Their eyes met, sharing the fear they had experienced previously and the resignation which now seemed unavoidable.

"There is no possibility of a... ?" asked Renee Tyler.

"Mistake? I can't imagine how," the doctor replied. "As I said, we ran the tests three times. Besides, you've told me this is not the first clinic to run these tests."

"Actually, doctor, this is the fifth clinic we have visited. They have all told us the same thing," the husband said with a sigh.

"I'm afraid we just don't know very much about Progeria," the specialist continued, "Actually, in one sense you have been lucky, Mrs. Tyler. You were diagnosed at age three. Normally the disease progresses very rapidly causing premature aging and few live past their teens. For some unaccountable reason, your case went into remission at a very early stage. To have lived to the age of thirty-two, showing no outward signs of the disease is quite remarkable."

"And there is nothing you can do?" she asked without hope.

"I'm sorry. As I'm sure you have been told by the other doctors who examined you, there is no cure. We can provide you with a drug regimen designed to delay the onset and make you more comfortable once the disease becomes symptomatic, but beyond that, there is little we can do."

"How long?" she asked.

"Your case is unusual in that the disease rarely goes into remission, so there is no way to be precise with an estimate. However, I think it's safe to say that major symptoms will appear within a matter of weeks. Your body will age at a rate eight to ten times normal. The lines around your eyes and mouth are the first telltale signs that the disease is viable"

Renee's fingers went to her eyes and mouth feeling for what she had already seen, all too evidently, in the mirror.

"At the rate of progression we have seen so far, I would say anywhere from a year to perhaps three."

Martin looked to his wife. Renee had always been exceptionally beautiful. In undergraduate school she had won several beauty contests and been first runner up in the Miss Arizona Pageant. Her radiant blue eyes and short honey golden hair set her apart immediately, as did her centerfold figure. Besides the classic beauty of her face, she had always felt her breasts and legs were her best features. Her calves were curvaceous without seeming muscular and flowed smoothly into tight thighs and full but firm hips. Her breasts were full, but beautifully proportioned to her tiny waist. She had always watched her diet closely and worked out at least and hour each day in aerobics or jogging, taking no small pride in her appearance.

But in the last few weeks, she had noticed the facial lines, the breasts showing just a hint of sagging, the tautness leaving her legs and her skin losing its elasticity and beginning to show wrinkles. For any other woman her age, these signs would be unwelcome, but accepted with resignation. But for Renee, the rapidity with which the symptoms had appeared, teamed with her own vanity, added up to nothing short of catastrophe. She was still a singularly attractive woman. The difference now was that others, instead of remarking "what a beautiful thirty-two year old", would probably be remarking, "what an attractive forty-five year old."

"But..." she started, grasping for straws.

"Mrs. Tyler, you and your husband must, of course, decide for yourselves what you will do now. But if I might be allowed an opinion, I would spend the time you have left sharing time with each other, your friends and loved ones. Travel, do things you've always wanted to do. Make the time you have remaining really count."

"Easy for you to say, Doctor. You're not the one who's going to look old and feeble before your time with everyone staring at you as some kind of oddity."

"Mrs. Tyler, although the onset will occur over a relatively short period of time, it will not be as noticeable in an adult as it would in a child."

"Perhaps not for you," she said, rubbing the age spots now covering the backs of her hands.

"I am truly sorry. I wish there was more I could do."

"So do I, Doctor," she said with both sarcasm and resignation as she and her husband rose to leave.

"Honey, shouldn't we get you started on that medicine?" asked her husband.

"Maybe you've given up, but I haven't!" she answered turning on her heel and heading for the door.