text: how old do children with progeria get?   i believe most die by their early to mid teens.  some have survived to age 20 but they are very rare.  when they die in their early to mid-teens their bodies have all the degeneration that one would expect to find in an 80 year old.  if scientists could just find the gene that controls this--the answer to curing progeria could be virtual immortality.  in progeria patients the gene is abnormal and causes the body to age too fast.  if we could find it and perhaps slow it down, could it be possible not to age at all, or to age at a significantly lower rate?