Lina Medina born in 1933 in Peru is the youngest confirmed mother in medical history. Only a few of us know her. On 14 May 1939, she shocked the world miraculously giving birth to a normal and healthy baby. This is indeed shocking as she was just 5 years, 7 months and 21 days old at that time.
Her story is shocking as well as tragic. It happened one fine day when a Peruvian couple took their 5 years old daughter to the hospital because her tummy size was increasing day by day for the past couple of months. Her parents originally thought she was having a tumor in her belly. To everyone’s amaze they found out that she was 7 months pregnant. Dr. Gerardo Lozada examined her first and took the 5 years old to another specialist to confirm her pregnancy.
The incident also shocked the doctors and she was invited by many foreign research and medical industries to examine her condition. After 6 weeks she gave birth to a healthy baby boy and became the youngest mother in medical history. Medina’s baby was delivered through cesarean section by Dr. Grerardo Lozada, Dr. Busalleu and Dr. Colateral. Her baby was 6.0lb when born and was named Gerardo after Lina’s doctor’s name.
Her doctor claimed that while performing her cesarean they found that her sex organs and mammary gland were fully developed similar to a healthy and normal pregnancy.
Many articles were published regarding this case. Some researches claimed that it was a nervous disorder in which the person gets mature at a very early age and the same case was for Lina. She had gone mature since she was three.
What happened after?
People claimed that the story was a hoax but studies claimed that she was suffering from a condition called Precocious Puberty. In this condition, the child’s body reaches the puberty and develop its sexual organs before the age eight.
This story developed an interest in many people. Her father was arrested in accusation for child abuse but later he was released after no evidence was found against him. Many claimed that she was raped. But until today the biological father of her son and the man who impregnated her was never identified.
Medina never revealed the name of the father of her son as she was also unaware of what happened to her. Her son Greraro grew up knowing Lina was her elder sister. It is tragic and unfortunate to say that he never got the true mother love and affection from his biological mother. He found the truth in his teenage.
At the age of 13, Lina started working as a secretary in Lima’s Clinic owned by her Dr. Lozada. She later married Raul Jorado and gave birth to her second son. However, she spent her life with her husband in a poor district while her son Greraro passed away a natural death at the age of 40.
Lina is still alive and spending her old age in a suburb town of Peru. She refuses to talk about her first pregnancy and son and had turned away many reporters.
Till this day, after 78 years, Lina Medina is the only mother to give birth at the age of 5. Her case remains as the youngest mother in medical history.