This Girl Must Eat Every 15 Minutes To Stay Alive

#1 Lizzie Velasquez suffers from a rare disorder and must eat every 15 minutes to stay alive.

Velasquez, a 21-year-old Texan, is unable to put on weight and must eat 5,000-8,000 calories a day. That's approximately 60 meals a day.

#2 Most of us struggle to keep our weight down, but Lizzie has 0% body fat.

Velasquez is believed to be just a few in the entire world to suffer from Neonatal Progeroid Syndrome, which also accelerates with aging. She eats all kinds of food, including junk food, at will without gaining any weight.

#3 Lizzie has a very supportive family, including 2 siblings, none of whom have the disease.

The Texas State University students condition is so rare, there are only three other known cases in the entire world.

#4 The doctors had prepared the parents for the worst after Lizzie was born 4 week premature.

Lizzie was born four weeks prematurely weighing just 2lb 10oz. Doctors found there was minimal amniotic fluid protecting her in the womb. Doctors told her parents that they had no idea how she has survived. When she was a toddler, they had to buy doll clothes for her to wear because nothing would fit her tiny body.

#5 Her story and prognosis still baffles doctors today, as in the few similar conditions to Lizzie's each case is slightly different.

Doctors could not make a diagnosis so they prepared Lizzie's parents for the worst. They said Lizzie would never be able to walk, talk of live a normal life. Despite this, she survived and her brain and other organs grew as they should have. At age of two she was still only 15lbs - the same as the average five-month-old baby.

#6 Lizzie struggled socially and was harassed by other children but that never seemed to slow her down, even though the bullying has followed her in to adulthood.

Ridiculed and made fun of her entire life, it wasn't until high school then college, that Lizzie began to have a social life. She began going out and making friends but has to be careful because her immune system is very weak and could cause her major complications. She still gets bullied and made fun of at her adult age and says that it does not bother her at all.

#7 Lizzie struggles but maintains a normal life and has recently become a spokesperson for the disease and a motivational speaker on bullying.

Now a motivational speaker, Lizzie has co-authored a new book about her disease and how she has lived out her life with this rare condition. At age 16 she almost died due to complications with her burst appendix, and she has gone blind in one eye... but that has not stopped Lizzie. She continues to look to the future ahead of her!

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