Oldest Woman Ever, 115 yrs old

[HandyAndy]

SHELBYVILLE, Ind. - Maybe it was a lifetime of chores on the family farm that accounts for Edna Parker's long life. Or maybe just good genes explain why the world's oldest known person will turn 115 on Sunday, defying staggering odds.
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Scientists who study longevity hope Parker and others who live to 110 or beyond — they're called supercentenarians — can help solve the mystery of extreme longevity.

"We don't know why she's lived so long," said Don Parker, her 59-year-old grandson. "But she's never been a worrier and she's always been a thin person, so maybe that has something to do with it."

On Friday, Edna Parker laughed and smiled as relatives and guests released 115 balloons into sunny skies outside her nursing home. Dressed in pearls, a blue and white polka dot dress and new white shoes, she clutched a red rose during the festivities.

Two years ago, researchers from the New England Centenarian Study at Boston University took a blood sample from Parker for the group's DNA database of supercentenarians.

Her DNA is now preserved with samples of about 100 other people who made the 110-year milestone and whose genes are being analyzed, said Dr. Tom Perls, an aging specialist who directs the project.

"They're really our best bet for finding the elusive Holy Grail of our field — which are these longevity-enabling genes," he said.

Only 75 living people — 64 women and 11 men — are 110 or older, according to the Gerontology Research Group of Inglewood, Calif., which verifies reports of extreme ages.

Parker, who was born April 20, 1893, was recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest of that group last August after the death of a Japanese woman four months her senior.

A widow since her husband, Earl, died in 1938 of a heart attack, Parker lived alone in their farmhouse until age 100, when she moved into her son Clifford's home. She cheated death a few months later.

One winter night, Clifford and his wife returned home from a high school basketball game to find her missing. Don, their son, says he discovered his grandmother in the snowy darkness near the farm's apple orchard. He scooped up her rigid body and rushed back to the house.

"She was stiff as a 2-by-4. We really thought that was the end of her," he said.

But Parker recovered fully, suffering only frostbitten fingertips.

Fifteen years later, her room at the Heritage House Convalescent Center in Shelbyville, Ind., about 25 miles southeast of Indianapolis, is adorned with teddy bears and photos of her five grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and 13 great-great grandchildren. She's outlived her two sons, Clifford and Earl Jr.

During a visit this week, Parker was captivated by a new album of photos and documents from her life that Don's wife, Charlene, had assembled.

"That's the boys," she said hoarsely, tapping a photo of her two late sons in their youth. "Clifford and Junior."

Her two sisters also are deceased. Georgia lived to be 99, while her sister Opal was 88 when she died.

Parker's long-lived sisters are typical of other centenarians, according to Dr. Nir Barzilai, director of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine's Institute for Aging Research in New York. Nearly all of them have a sister, mother or other relative who lived a long life, he said.

"Longevity is in the family history," Barzilai said.

He and other scientists have found several genetic mutations in centenarians that may play a role in either slowing the aging process or boosting resistance to age-related diseases.

Perls said the secret to a long life is now believed to be a mix of genetics and environmental factors such as health habits. He said his research on about 1,500 centenarians hints at another factor that may protect people from illnesses such as heart attacks and stroke — they appear not to dwell on stressful events.

"They seem to manage their stress better than the rest of us," he said.

craaazy

 

[ChrizZ]

I'd hit it.

 

[penkitten]

amazing!!

 

[Maxtro]

Damn she's old. But she is not the oldest person ever. That title goes to Jeanne Calment who lived to be 122. Though Edna Parker is currently the oldest living person.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_people

 

[HandyAndy]

Well yahoo is wrong? Idk, but sh1t, how does you body last that long?

 

[lordson]

Does the article emtnion anythgnabout the fact she has Alzhinmers which i gathered form th wandering around

she hasn't been herself for 15 years and her mind is completley deteriorated

i would never want to live ot that stage

i woulud want to live to about 70 but will little health complications, maybe just a sudden deadly heart attack one day

 

[ProDJ26]

I really couldn't see myself past 100

(Old wrinkled muscles)

 

[FireOnTheMountain]

Mm, I want to be alive as long as I can be with my mind functioning.

I saw on the news yesterday a story about a parade to commemorate an anniversary of a big earthquake in 1906. They talked to a 105 year old guy who survived the quake.

Amazingly, he wasn't delirious or absent minded or anything. He actually seemed pretty healthy. It was hard to believe he was 105.

 

[iqqi]

My great grandfather is 99 and kicking. He remembers to send us cards on all of our bdays, and he always sends long notes, full of wisecracks, in all of them. It's amazing to me. His handwriting is sh!t though.

I would say we have great genes. Except it is relation through adoption.

I'd want to live as long as I was able to experience things. Even if its just the experience of a movie or a car ride.

 

[Joe The Homophobe]

i'm gonna go ahead and guess that most young people these days when they get old will be really messed up due to cell phones/computers, loud music and tv. I don't see how the young girls with a cell phone stuck to their head you see on the streets will have a mind sharper at 50 than some of the 70 years old now.

just think about it, your grandma will have a better and sharper mind than your wife does when your wife gets to 40's.

this is all a guess as we won't still know the effects of all these gadgets on the tech generation for a couple decades.

 

[Maxtro]

My great grandmother is around 105. She lost her mind about 10 years ago and she can barely do anything. She doesn't recognize anybody from her family and doesn't know her daughter when she sees and talks to her.

As far as I know she isn't being kept alive by technology but she does live in an assisted living place. I don't have a clue how much medication she's on to keep her going though.

The way people are today, the mind goes first then the body goes last. People are just shells of their former selves living on. Unaware of their own existence. I think that it a total shame. In all honesty humans are not designed to live past 100 and they should have died already but our care is so good that we keep them living.

Mm, I want to be alive as long as I can be with my mind functioning.

I agree. But I have a more expanded darker view. I would want to be put out of my misery as soon as my mind stops functioning. Once your mind is gone you are no longer you. People just take care of you for sentimental reasons.

My grandmother obviously loves her mother and she tries to see her mother at least once a week. But when I talk to her, it's obvious that she is waiting for her mother to just die. It pains her to explain to her mother that she is her daughter every single time the meet. And when they do meet, she has to be reminded every 20 minutes. I would not want to live like that.

That isn't living. My great grandmother has a "do not resuscitate" thing in her medical file and if she gets sick or hurt or something they won't put her on life support, they will just let nature take it's course.

My other grandmother that I live with is 73 and her mind is leaving her already. I don't know if it's dementia or Alzheimer's but it's not natural how her mind is going so quickly. It hurts me to see her go through it and she knows that something is happening to her.

I think the scariest thing in the world is loosing the sense of who you are. Once that is gone, you have nothing left.