Lina Medina

Early life and development

Born in Ticrapo, Castrovirreyna Province, Peru, to silversmith Tiburelo Medina and Victoria Losea, she was brought to a hospital by her parents at the age of five years due to increasing abdominal size. She was originally thought to have a tumor, but doctors determined she was in her seventh month of pregnancy. Dr Gerardo Lozada took Medina to Lima to have other specialists confirm that she was pregnant.

Contemporary newspaper accounts indicate that interest in the case developed on many fronts. The San Antonio Light newspaper reported in its 16 July, 1939, edition—in anticipation of the girl's expected visit to U.S. university scientific facilities—that a national Peruvian obstetrician/midwife association had demanded that the girl be transported to a national maternity hospital; the paper quoted 18 April reports in the Peruvian paper La Crónica stating that a North American film making concern had sent a representative "with authority to offer the sum of $5,000 to benefit the minor [in exchange for filming rights] ... we know that the offer was rejected."

The same article, reprinted from a Chicago paper, noted that Lozada had made films of Medina for scientific documentation and had shown them around 21 April while addressing Peru's National Academy of Medicine; on a subsequent visit to Lina's remote hometown, some of the baggage carrying the films had fallen into the river while crossing "a very primitive bridge ... Enough of his pictorial record remained, however, to intrigue the learned savants."

A month and a half after the original diagnosis, Medina gave birth by caesarean section to a boy. She was 5 years, 7 months, and 21 days, the youngest known person in history to give birth. The caesarean birth was necessitated by her small pelvis. The surgery was performed by Lozada and Dr Busalleu, with Dr Colareta providing anaesthesia. When doctors performed the caesarean to deliver her baby, they found she already had fully mature sexual organs from precocious puberty. 

Her case was reported in detail by Dr. Edmundo Escomel in the medical journal La Presse Médicale, including the additional details that her menarche had occurred at eight months of age, in contrast to a past report stating that she had been having regular periods since she was three years old (or 2½ according to a different article). The report also detailed that she had prominent breast development by the age of four. By age five, her figure displayed pelvic widening and advanced bone maturation.

Identity of the father and later life

Medina has never revealed the father of the child nor the circumstances of her impregnation. Escomel suggested she might not actually know herself by writing that Medina "couldn't give precise responses". Although Lina's father was arrested on suspicion of child sexual abuse, he was later released due to lack of evidence, and the biological father was never identified. Her son grew up healthy. He died in 1979 at the age of 40.

Her Son Gerardo Medina 

Lina Medina gave birth to a baby boy on May 14, 1939 in Peru. The baby was named Gerardo after the doctor who performed Lina's caesarian. He was born healthy and weighed 2.7 kg (6.0 lb; 0.43 st) at the time of birth. Gerardo was raised to believe that Lina was his elder sister. But at the age of 10, Gerardo found out that she was his mother but they reportedly continued having a normal life. After growing up, Lina joined office in Peru in the year 1969 and got married. She lived hale and hearty life ever since. On the other hand, her son Gerardo who was born healthy suffered from a bone disease at the age of 40 and died. No traces about his married life or job were found as Lina's family decided to stay low-key and away from the media after his birth.

Her Husband Raul Jurado

In young adulthood, Medina worked as a secretary in the Lima clinic of Lozada, who gave her an education and helped put her son through high school. Medina later married Raúl Jurado, who fathered her second son in 1972. As of 2002, they lived in a poor district of Lima known as "Chicago Chico". She refused an interview with Reuters that year, just as she had turned away many reporters in years past.

Book on Lina Medina

Jose Sandoval, an obstetrician has been interested in Lina Medina's case since years. He wished to study the tiniest details about her while he was working on his book titled, 'Mother Aged 5'. He was well aware about the pitiful conditions that Lina and her husband were living in during their 60s. So he decided to help Lina and her family by making the government aware of their responsibilities towards rehabilitating Lina's distressful life. "The government condemned them to live in poverty. In any other country, they would be the objects of special care,” he told Reuters.

“We still have time to repair the damage done to her. That’s my fundamental objective,” he added. He has also raised Medina’s case with the office of First Lady Eliane Karp, and has requested the government to grant her a life pension. “We’re totally willing to help her,” said spokeswoman Marta Castaneda. But Suni Ramos, of the social action department of Karp’s office, said it was important for them to speak to Lina about her needs like that of the kitchen or household necessities before they took any action.

They were also trying to contact her family so that they can provide her with the needed aid. But Lina reportedly has been skeptical about the government and its promises.  Medina’s husband, Raul Jurado said, “She got no help (in 1939) that I know about. She thinks governments never deliver. Maybe today there will be a promise that will never come true.”

Neither the family or the authorities have ever established the facts about the father of Medina’s child, none of them either confirmed if she became pregnant after being raped. But eight decades down the line, Lina Medina still holds the record of being the youngest mother in the world and the youngest case of precocious puberty in the history of medical sciences.

Documentation

Although the case was speculated as a hoax, a number of doctors over the years have verified it based on biopsies, X rays of the fetal skeleton in utero, and photographs taken by the doctors caring for her.

There are two published photographs documenting the case. The first was taken around the beginning of April 1939, when Medina was seven-and-a-half months into pregnancy. Taken from Medina's left side, it shows her standing naked in front of a neutral backdrop. This is the only published photograph of Lina taken during her pregnancy. The other photograph is of far greater clarity and was taken a year later in Lima when Gerardo was eleven months old.

In 1955, except for the effects of precocious puberty, there was no explanation of how a five-year-old girl could conceive a child. Extreme precocious pregnancy in children aged five or under has only been documented with Medina.

Where is Lina Medina Today ?

According to a report by Reuters, Lina Medina was promised medical and financial aid by the government of Peru after giving birth to her son. But the aid reportedly never materialized. As per media reports, sixty years after giving birth to her son, 63-year-old reportedly lived with her husband in a cramped house in a poor and crime-ridden district of Lima known as “Little Chicago.” The report that mentions Lina's whereabouts can be dated back to 2002. Since then, no traces of her or her family have been found.