Teen with rare premature aging disease dies at 17

Hayley Okines, an English teen with a rare genetic disease that caused premature aging, died Thursday at age 17.

"My baby girl has gone somewhere better. She took her last breath in my arms at 9.39 pm," Hayley's mother, Kerry Okines, wrote on her Facebook page.

Hayley had Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome, a disease that causes people to age eight times faster than the average person. She was outspoken about her disease and raised awareness with her autobiography, Old Before My Time.

"The entire Progeria family mourns together with many as we say goodbye to Hayley Okines, our smart, beautiful and spirited English Rose, who passed away today at age 17," the Progeria Research Foundation wrote on Facebook. They also posted a photo of Hayley with her mother.

Okines had been in the hospital for pneumonia shortly before her death, the BBC reported. Doctors initially did not expect she would live beyond age 13, according to the report.

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