Click here to visit the new home of ParentDish!

Hot on HuffPost Parents:

 

Rare Condition Gives Toddler Super Strength

by Sandy Maple (Subscribe to Sandy Maple's posts)
Apr 2nd 2009 3:00PM

66Comments

Filed under: In The News, Weird But True

Liam HoekstraAt first glance, Liam Hoekstra looks like your typical toddler. At 3 years old and 30 pounds, he sports a mop of curly brown hair and a mischievous smile. But hand the boy a pair of dumbbells and it is immediately clear that there is something special about him. With 40 percent more muscle mass than the average person and exceptional strength, agility and speed, Liam is a real-life Bam Bam Rubble.

No, Liam hasn't been working out -- he was born with a genetic condition called myostatin-related muscle hypertrophy. In essence, his muscle cells reject the protein myostatin, which results in above-average muscle development, a super-fast metabolism and virtually no body fat.

Amazing Human Anomalies

    Largest identical birth
    While Preana, Audreana, Natalie and Melody aren't the world's only identical quadruplets, the chances of four identical babies is 1 in 11 million.

    Getty Images

    Smallest baby to survive
    Rumaisa (on the left) weighed only 8.6 ounces when she was born.

    Getty Images

    Tallest man in the world
    At approximately 8ft 3in tall, Leonid Stadnyk is the world's tallest human.

    Getty Images

    World's shortest man
    At only 2ft 4in tall, 19-year-old He Pingping is the world's shortest human.

    Getty Images

    World's tallest woman
    At 7ft 7in tall, Sandy Allen was the world's tallest woman until her death last month.

    Getty Images

    3rd smallest baby
    Zoe managed to survive after weighing only 10.8 ounces at birth. She was the 3rd smallest baby in US history.

    Getty Images

    15.2-pound baby
    This enormous baby was the largest ever in his home country of Indonesia, and one of the biggest babies on record around the world.

    Getty Images

    World's oldest man
    When this photo was taken in 2002, Yukichi Chuganji had made it to the ripe old age of 113.

    Getty Images

    World's oldest woman?
    Miriam Amash claims to be 120 years old (meaning she would have been born in 1888!). Her age is still being confirmed.

    Getty Images



Liam's parents, Dana and Neil Hoekstra of Roosevelt Park, Michigan, say they noticed right away that there was something different about their adopted son. At two days old, his legs could support the weight of his body while his mother held his hands for balance. By 5 months, he could do a difficult gymnastics move that most grown men can't manage.

"I would hold him up by his hands and he would lift himself into an iron cross. That's when we were like, 'Whoa, this is weird,'" says Dana.

As Liam grew, so did his strength -- and his parent's amazement. "When he fell backward, he would land on his butt, but he never hit his head on the ground," Dana says. "His stomach would tense up and he would catch himself before his head hit the ground. You could see his stomach muscles. He had a little six-pack."

Liam's condition is very rare. First documented in beef cattle in the late 1990s, the first human case wasn't discovered until 2000. Today, there are only about 100 known cases in the entire world. Scientists say that studying Liam and others like him could help them to understand the mystery of muscle growth and deterioration and possibly lead to new treatments for ailments such as muscular dystrophy and osteoporosis.

The good news is that while Liam's condition prevents his body from developing the fat young children need for brain growth and development of the central nervous system, he appears to be doing well both physically and mentally. But while he excels in the strength-related activities in his gymnastics class, he has more difficulty than other kids with his balance and flexibility.

The bad news is, he eats like a horse! "He's hungry for a full meal about every hour because of his rapid metabolism," says Dana. "He's already eating me out of house and home."

Keeping Liam fed isn't the only challenge his parents are dealing with. He's already given mom a black eye and put a hole in the wall during a tantrum. But if they can all survive his childhood intact, Liam's future looks pretty bright.

While Liam's dad dreams about his son's future spot on the football team at his beloved University of Michigan, mom just hopes for a normal life for her exceptional son. The Hoekstra's routinely refuse interviews with television news crews looking to sensationalize their son's story. "It's great that he's going to have some extra muscle mass, but I don't want him to be viewed as some kind of freak," says Dana.

Tags: bam bam, BamBam, dana hoekstra, DanaHoekstra, genetic, genetics, hypertrophy, iron cross, IronCross, liam hoekstra, LiamHoekstra, myostatin, neil hoekstra, NeilHoekstra, photo gallery, PhotoGallery, strong toddler, StrongToddler, toddler

ReaderComments (Page 3 of 4)

Add Your Comments

Previous 20 Comments 1234 Next 20 Comments

FollowUs

Flickr RSS

TheTalkies

AskAdviceMama

How can I get my teenage son to open up?
AdviceMama Says:
Start by teaching him that it is safe to do so.
Read more

More Recent Questions: