Bihar man with progeria dies with an unfulfilled wish

PATNA - Ikramul Khan, who was suffering from progeria, a disease that accelerates the ageing process, died in Bihar’s Saran district Friday with an unfulfilled wish of meeting Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan.

“My brother Ikramul died without fulfilling his last wish of meeting Amitabh Bachchan,” Khan’s brother Ali Hussain, who is also suffering from progeria, told IANS.

Khan, 22, was a resident of Dumri village in Saran district, about 80 km from here.

“We were living together and sharing with each other. Now I will have to live without him. I will miss my friend-cum-brother,” an emotional Hussain said.

Early this month, Khan had expressed his wish of meeting Big B and acknowledging him for creating awareness about the disease. Recently in his Hindi film “Paa”, Amitabh played the character of a 13-year-old boy suffering from progeria.

Hussain said ever since the film released, he and Khan wanted to meet the superstar.

“It was our last wish to spend some time with Amitabh Bachchan,” said Hussain, who looked middle-aged despite being in his early-20s.

Khan’s mother Razia Khatoon had said: “How can we approach Amitabh Bachchan, who is such a big star, to request him to share a few moments with my sons.”

Khatoon’s three elder daughters - Guriya, Rehana and Rubina - too died of progeria at 17, 24 and 13, respectively. She said of her eight children, five suffered from progeria while three others are healthy and normal.