Lawrence Koomson is a doctor living and working in London. On the face of it, he seems no different from any other young man but Lawrence has a secret.
At 33, he has never been through puberty. He's never had a spot. He's never had an erection. And he's trapped in the body of a 12-year-old boy.
But this all changed in April 2005, when he began treatment to bring on puberty.
"I feel an outsider, different to everyone else," he said before the treatment. "People take going through puberty for granted; it's just something that happens. For me it has just never happened."
Lawrence has Kallmann's syndrome, a rare condition affecting predominantly men, but also women. A small area in the brain called the hypothalamus cannot work properly causing a hormonal imbalance.
For men like Lawrence, this means his body doesn't produce testosterone, which prevents puberty being triggered. Another characteristic of Kallmann's syndrome is an absent sense of smell.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4492814.stm
At 33, he has never been through puberty. He's never had a spot. He's never had an erection. And he's trapped in the body of a 12-year-old boy.
But this all changed in April 2005, when he began treatment to bring on puberty.
"I feel an outsider, different to everyone else," he said before the treatment. "People take going through puberty for granted; it's just something that happens. For me it has just never happened."
Lawrence has Kallmann's syndrome, a rare condition affecting predominantly men, but also women. A small area in the brain called the hypothalamus cannot work properly causing a hormonal imbalance.
For men like Lawrence, this means his body doesn't produce testosterone, which prevents puberty being triggered. Another characteristic of Kallmann's syndrome is an absent sense of smell.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4492814.stm
