Texas Woman Eats Every 15 Minutes Just to Stay Alive

(June 29) -- At first glance, you might think Lizzie Velasquez, who weighs a mere 60 pounds and has close to zero body fat, suffers from an extreme case of anorexia. But there's nothing wrong with this 21-year-old's appetite. In fact, she has to eat a small meal every 15 minutes simply to stay healthy.

The Austin, Texas, native suffers from an extremely rare, as-yet-undiagnosed condition that prevents her from putting on any weight, even though she sometimes eats up to 60 meals a day.

"I weigh myself regularly and if I gain even 1 pound I get really excited," Velasquez told The Daily Telegraph. "I eat small portions of crisps, sweets, chocolate, pizza, chicken, cake, doughnuts, ice cream, noodles and Pop-Tarts all day long, so I get pretty upset when people accuse me of being anorexic."

Velasquez's life story is one of triumph in the face of incredible adversity. She was born four weeks premature and weighed just 2 pounds, 10 ounces. "I was actually so small that my baby clothes were actually doll clothes from Toys R Us because that's all that would fit me!" Velasquez writes on her website. Her mother, Rita, a 45-year-old church secretary, told the Telegraph that soon after her daughter's birth, doctors confessed that "they had no idea how she could have survived."

Despite her frail, 5-foot-2 figure, Velasquez -- who wears size triple zero clothes -- has healthy teeth, bones and organs. She does, however, suffer other health problems including blindness in one eye, limited vision in the other and a weakened immune system. "A simple cold can bring me down for about two weeks," Velasquez writes on her site.

She had to undergo a pair of major surgeries while still in high school, and two years ago she needed two blood transfusions after doctors discovered she had lost half her blood supply to her body. But Velasquez didn't feel any anger over that life-threatening episode. "It was honestly a blessing in disguise," she writes, "and helped me realize how precious life is."

That positive attitude has helped Velasquez live an incredibly active life. Currently studying communications at Texas State University, she was a varsity cheerleader in high school and has worked as a teacher at numerous summer Bible camps and Sunday schools.

"Please don't feel like you have to treat me different just because I look different," she writes. "I was raised by my amazing parents to be a normal girl and not let anything stop me from what I set my mind to."

Scientists are now a step closer to diagnosing Velasquez's mysterious condition, which only two other people in the world are thought to suffer from. She has joined a genetic study run by professor Abhimanyu Garg at the University of Texas, who told the Telegraph that he suspects Velasquez may have a form of neonatal progeroid syndrome, which causes "accelerated aging, fat loss from the face and body, and tissue degeneration."

However, it may take Garg years of study to reach a final diagnosis. In the meantime, Velasquez continues to live life to the fullest. Her autobiography will be released in September, and then she wants to become a motivational speaker, spreading her hope-filled message.

"God made me the way I am for a reason and I would never change that," she writes. "I lead a normal life as much as possible and deal with the bumps in the road as they come along with my head held high and a smile on my face!"