Maria comes from a poor family from Ceara, Brazil. She and her family live in a mud house. Maria's mother died 13 years ago and since then her father and his second wife take care of her.
Experts from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ceara regard Maria's condition as severe deficiency of the thyroid hormone. If treated at birth, this disease is reversed. If the condition was diagnosed early, she would have grown normally. But Maria's family can't afford to pay for any kind of treatment. As a result of hypothyroidism, her body was never able to develop physically or mentally. Now she continues to live like a baby who never grows up - without being able to speak, without taking care of herself.
Maria's stepmother, Dora, considers the woman-child as a gift from God and doesn't mind taking care of her. Maria is now receiving free treatment, provided by the university. The experts hope she will be able to walk, eat ant talk a little by herself.
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