In 1938 the youngest mother in medical history gave birth to her first baby, a son she named Gerardo. The young mother, Lina Medina, was only a child herself — she was just 5 years old.
It seems impossible, but it’s true.
The young girl’s parents brought their daughter to the local hospital in Pisco, Peru with grave concerns that she was suffering from a huge tumor in her stomach.
To their shock, doctors informed them that she was actually seven months pregnant. She gave birth to her son by cesarean section on May 14, 1939.
She was five years, seven months and 12 days old.
Doctors confirmed that Lina’s incredible pregnancy was possible because she was born with a rare condition known as «precocious puberty.»
This condition is early-onset puberty.
She experienced her first menstrual cycle between two and three years old. By the time she was five, she had fully developed breasts, pelvic widening and advanced bone maturation…
Since she was so young, sexual abuse was immediately suspected. Her father was arrested on suspicion of rape and incest, but he was released due to lack of evidence.
Some suggested that she might have been present at one of the indigenous festivities celebrated in the Andean villages. «These often ended in orgies where rape was not uncommon.»
To this day, Lina has never revealed the father, nor the circumstances surrounding her impregnation. Now, at 83 years old, she still refuses to give interviews or speak about the past.
