"Forever young" or the secret of ageless people

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Many people know a terrible and little-studied disease called Progeria. Children suffering from it turn into little old people and die in early adolescence. But it turns out that there is also an almost opposite syndrome.

In March 2002, in one of the secluded corners of the old Tbilisi cemetery, a unique person was buried - Soko Lomidze, better known in criminal circles as a thief in law named Old Man. An outsider would be incredibly surprised to see in the coffin instead of a 54-year-old man … a man who looks like a ten-year-old boy!

Indeed, Lomidze's uniqueness was not that at the age of 15 he was recognized as the most dexterous pick (pickpocket) in Georgia.

People around him once noticed that he had stopped growing old. Time seemed to flow backward for him.

The metamorphosis began when Coco turned 25. The gray hair that appeared early began to gradually disappear, the wrinkles were smoothed out, the oval of the face was rounded, the hard stubble was replaced by a youthful fluff. Inexplicable changes in appearance - the "rejuvenation" that many women dream of - lasted almost thirty years! At the same time, the psychological state, mental abilities corresponded to his actual age: over the years, he became more and more enterprising and strong-willed.

Lomidze found practical, of course criminal, application for his mysterious transformation from a mature man into a boy when he was 36 years old.

Dog wedding with dowry

In 1983, after the suicide of Mikhail Georgadze, his widow Manana moved from Moscow to Tbilisi and settled in a luxurious apartment with an armored door and cast-iron bars on the windows.

Our reference: Mikhail Porfir'evich Georgadze, born in 1912, Georgian, native of Tbilisi, for 26 years the permanent secretary of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

In 1983, on the initiative of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Yuri Andropov, a criminal case was initiated against Georgadze on the fact of taking bribes on an especially large scale for providing deputy mandates of the Supreme Soviet to his fellow countrymen, their appointment to various positions in the State Planning Committee, Vneshtorg and the Council of Ministers of the USSR. During a search at his dacha outside Moscow, more than 20 kg of jewelry made of gold and platinum, precious stones with a total weight of more than 4,000 carats, about 5 million rubles, tens of thousands of US dollars, German stamps, British pounds sterling and other foreign currency were found.

At the end of the search, Georgadze, without waiting for the verdict of the court, shot himself, and his wife, taking the treasures and money hidden in hiding places that the investigators could not find, fled to Tbilisi.

Lomidze knew that the aged Manana never left her home, she was a mistrustful woman, and did not let strangers in. Three Great Danes live in the apartment, each as tall as a calf. However, Coco's intriguable mind told him a way out, or rather, an entrance.

By the day of the raid on the apartment of the "millionaire in exile" Lomidze had already turned 36 years old, and he looked like a 15-year-old boy. Coco donned a school uniform, knitted a pioneer tie. In order to neutralize the four-legged guards, I acquired three shepherd bitches in the nursery, who were in estrus.

After ringing the doorbell, Manana, looking through the peephole, asked what the “pioneer” needed. Coco squeaked, they say, their school collects waste paper. Door opened. There and then bitches were launched into the apartment, which, forgetting about everything, were immediately taken up by the Great Danes. A Coco and two of his accomplices took care of the hostess. "Bombils" took so much valuables that they drank for a whole year, forgetting about the thieves' trade.

Don't kiss unfamiliar boys

April 9, 1989 Lomidze remembered better than his own birthday. It was on this day that Eduard Shevardnadze, after long wanderings around the world in the rank of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, finally managed to visit Tbilisi. His program included a visit to the Palace of Pioneers. Prepared for the visit, and not only the administration of the institution, but also the criminal community of Georgia.

In the Caucasus, public humiliation is more terrible for a person than a blow with a dagger. It is no coincidence that at a thieves' meeting, the "crowned" authorities decided to humiliate the Gray Fox (nickname Shevardnadze). Sophisticated revenge was due to him for the "inconveniences" that he created for them in the 1960-1970s, being first the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and then the first secretary of the Communist Party of the republic. The executor of the execution was appointed Coco Lomidze, who, if successful, was promised the highest title of the thieves' world: a thief in law.

There were many flowers, smiles and music. Children in red ties were lined up on either side of the red carpet leading to the Palace. The right-flank was … Coco. He was in his 42nd year at that time, but outwardly it was impossible to distinguish him from the surrounding youths!

As soon as Shevardnadze, surrounded by bodyguards, stepped onto the carpet, Coco rushed to meet him. He shouted: “Batono, Batono Eduard, son of Ambrose, you are our messiah, we have been waiting for your appearance to the people for so long! You are our savior, you, like Moses, will lead us out of the desert … Let me kiss your hand!"

Yakov Tsiperovich. Another unique one who, at 60, looked no older than 30.

Shevardnadze brushed off the falling tear, lifted the boy in his arms and kissed him three times. These moments were more than enough for the guest's wristwatch to be in Lomidze's pocket. A second later he disappeared into the crowd of pioneers, and half an hour later - from Tbilisi.

Shevardnadze missed the point as soon as he crossed the threshold of the office of the director of the Palace of Pioneers. "Philipp Patek" with a gold bracelet decorated with a scattering of diamonds - the most expensive Swiss watch in the world - was presented to him by the President of the Union of Industrialists of Germany as an advance for his efforts in the early withdrawal of the Group of Soviet Forces from the GDR.

Two days later, the thieves returned the watch, but they did it in such a way that all Georgian newspapers would be trumpeted about it. The public shame of Shevardnadze took place!

And by the crib …

In 1989, Lomidze's male function began to fade away, and Tamara, his partner, insisted that he turn to Semyon Dalakishvili, deputy director of the All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Morphology and Gerontology, about his “rejuvenation”. Spreading Coco's photographs on the table, the professor paused. Finally, looking up at the patient, he said:

- If your "rejuvenation" goes at the same pace, then you will meet your sixtieth birthday in a cradle with a pacifier in your mouth … Sorry for the black humor. You, most likely, have malfunctions at the genetic level. Unfortunately, neither my institute, nor foreign clinics will be able to help …

In May 1990, the unique patient was examined by the Minister of Health of the USSR E. I. Chazov. I quote verbatim his comment:

“Biological age does not necessarily coincide with the calendar age of a person. There are examples of extremely early old age, when all the signs of aging are observed even in 5-7-year-olds. This genetic disease is called Progeria. But in order for the aging process to really reverse, the body began to rejuvenate by itself - this is impossible! Medicine does not have such facts, therefore there is no special term for such a "disease". Aging is a multi-link, destructive and, alas, irreversible process.

It's hard for me to judge what happened in the case of Lomidze - I saw this patient only once, and he was not observed in our specialized clinics. Surely he had some genetic disorders. The sensational rejuvenation of Lomidze can be explained - cases when the process of external aging slowed down, sometimes for decades, are known. But, of course, Lomidze was not younger. This is not given to any mortal!

The most eloquent evidence of the aging of the body of the only one from Tbilisi is the early extinction of his male function. As for the external signs of the patient's “rejuvenation”, this, I repeat, is most likely just a manifestation of an anomaly at the genetic level.”