Lina Medina, born in 1933 in Ticrapo, Peru, became the center of a shocking medical case at the age of five when her parents brought her to the hospital due to her unusually enlarged abdomen.
Initially, doctors suspected Lina had a tumor, but after conducting tests, they were astonished to discover that she was actually seven months pregnant.
Lina Medina gave birth to a son weighing 2.7 kg at the age of 5.
On May 14, 1939, at the tender age of five, Lina gave birth to a baby boy through a cesarean section. This extraordinary event made her the youngest recorded mother in history. The doctors performing the surgery were astounded to find that her body had developed as if she were an adult, a condition known as “precocious puberty.”
Lina’s son weighed just over 2.7kg at birth and was named Gerardo, after Dr. Gérado Lozada who delivered him.
Lina plays with her son, Gerardo.
After a few days, both Lina and her baby were discharged from the hospital. Growing up, Gerardo believed that Lina was his older sister until he turned 10 and learned the truth about his biological mother.
At the time, Lina’s father was temporarily detained on suspicion of incest, but due to insufficient evidence, he was eventually released. As a result, the true identity of Gerardo’s biological father remains unknown.
Lina stood beside her child and god doctor Gerardo.
Gerardo Medina grew up healthy and normal, but tragically passed away from bone marrow disease in 1979 at the age of 40. Meanwhile, Lina continued to live with her husband, Raul Jurado, in a poverty-stricken district in Peru after marrying him at the age of 33. She chose to keep her life private and guarded the secret of her son’s paternity until the end of her days.
Reason
Born on September 23, 1933, Lina Medina is a member of a family of 9 children. Medina’s case surprised the pediatricians of the day. They think she has precocious puberty.
This is a condition in which a child’s body reaches sexual maturity, reproducing before the age of 8 for girls and under 9 years of age in boys. Boys will have a broken voice and girls will have an early period with enlarged, higher-than-normal breasts.
Precocious puberty affects about 1 in 10,000 children each year. However, the trend towards early puberty in children is increasing, and most of the time, the cause is unknown. Some factors increase the likelihood of early puberty in children including genetic factors, endocrine, living environment, diet, living conditions in the family, other diseases of the body.
Some articles have reported that Lina has had regular periods since the age of 3. According to Dr. Edmundo Esco, published in the medical journal La Presse Médicale, the girl got her first period when she was only 8 months old. The report also details that the girl has shown signs of breast development, hips are wider than usual, and height has increased significantly. These are all common signs of puberty.
Lina’s father was arrested by the police because he thought he had violated his daughter. However, he was later released for lack of evidence. To date, the true identity of Gerardo’s father has not been revealed.
Secret life
When there is no explanation for this case, the media weaves many stories around the girl as well as the child’s father. Newspapers in Peru offered to pay thousands of dollars to interview and film Lina and her family. Newspapers in the US also want to do a program about this special case. Many organizations even want Lina to appear in a reality show about weird people.
The stories woven from the press also turn their lives upside down. This family chose to remain silent and refused all offers. Therefore, documents about her are very few, only a few photos taken when Lina was pregnant with low resolution.
While many people learn about the reason why Lina became pregnant early, child education expert Paul Koask (Columbia University, USA) asked another question. She visited Medina’s family 2 years after she gave birth. Koask found Medina “smarter than usual” and growing steadily.
According to Time magazine, Lina works as a secretary at Dr. Lozada’s Lima clinic. He was the one who financially supported her to go to school and raised Gerardo. She later married Raul Jurado and gave birth to her second child in 1972, at the age of 39.
The special story of a 5-year-old mother became the inspiration for obstetrician Jose Sandoval to write the book Mother Aged 5, which gathers the research and details surrounding this case. Lina herself and her family still keep the principle of being secretive in front of the media as well as those around them.
