Gerardo Medina was born in Peru in 1949 — when his mother, Lina Medina, was just five years old.
Wikimedia CommonsLina Medina and her newborn son, Gerardo Medina, shortly after his birth in 1939.
When Gerardo Medina was 10 years old, he learned a world-shaking truth: that his sister was actually his mother. This was all the more shocking because his sister, Lina, was a child herself. When Gerardo was 10, she was just 15. In fact, she’s the youngest confirmed mother in history.
Gerardo’s story started back in 1939, when Lina’s mother and father — Gerardo’s grandparents — brought Lina to a hospital in Pisco, Peru. Lina, then five years old, had a swollen stomach, and doctors initially thought that the little girl had an abdominal tumor.
To their surprise, they found that the child was eight months pregnant.
Lina Medina became internationally known after giving birth to a baby at the age of just five years old. So who was her son, Gerardo Medina, and how was it even possible for him to be born?
The Surprising Story Of Lina Medina
The story of Gerardo Medina begins with his mother, Lina Medina, who was born on Sept. 23, 1933 in one of the poorest villages in Peru. Lina was one of nine children, and at a young age she began to show signs of precocious puberty — that is, she began to develop more quickly than normal.
By the time Lina was three years old, she started having a regular period. Soon, she developed breasts, wide hips, and advanced bone growth. It’s unknown exactly what can cause precocious puberty in children, but one possible source is sexual abuse. And indeed, Lina soon became pregnant.
But no one understood that she was pregnant at first. As Lina’s stomach swelled, her parents began to fear that she’d been targeted by evil spirits, according to reporting from Time Magazine in 1939. Because Lina’s stomach continued to grow, her parents ultimately decided to take her to the hospital.
YouTube/Anondo BD
Lina with Gerardo in the hospital after his birth.
In April 1939, on the advice of a village shaman, Lina Medina’s parents brought her to a hospital in Pisco, Peru. There, she was examined by Dr. Gerardo Lozada. Lozada initially thought that Lina had an abdominal tumor. But as he studied in the little girl, he realized that she was eight months pregnant.
The Birth Of Gerardo Medina In May 1939
Roughly a month after Lina Medina arrived at the hospital, it was time for her to give birth. At the time, Lina weighed just 70 pounds, and her hips, though mature for her age, were far too narrow for a vaginal birth. All of this aside, Lina was also just five years old, and totally unprepared for the physical and mental trauma of giving birth. As such, Lozada elected to perform a Caesarean section to ensure the safety of both mother and child.
With dozens of other doctors watching, Lozada successfully delivered a six pound baby boy on May 14, 1939, which happened to be Mother’s Day that year. The baby was named after him: Gerardo Alejandro Medina.
But while the birth of a healthy child was a happy occasion, doctors and police investigators still had many questions about Lina and Gerardo Medina. Namely, they wanted to know the identity of Gerardo’s father.
Wikimedia Commons
Lina and Gerardo playing with a puppy.
Unfortunately, Lina was too young to understand the questions or explain who had gotten her pregnant. Though her father was arrested on suspicion of incest, police ultimately could not find enough evidence against him. Thus, the identity of Gerardo Medina’s father remains a mystery to this day.
At first, for Gerardo Medina, the identity of his mother was also hidden from him. Time Magazine reports that Lina initially wanted nothing to do with Gerardo, and that she couldn’t understand that he was her child. When journalists visited the hospital, Lina was shy and quiet, more interested in the new doll she’d been given than her newborn baby son.
So what happened to Lina and Gerardo Medina after his shocking birth?
Gerardo Medina’s Quiet Life In Peru
YouTube/Ileana FernandezGerardo Medina and Lina Medina.
After Gerardo Medina was born, he and his mother Lina mostly lived a quiet life. Lina Medina’s story remained a subject of curiosity around the world, with some continuing to doubt that a five year old could give birth to a baby. However, there is a photograph of Lina during her pregnancy, and both X-rays and blood tests confirm that she was pregnant, despite her young age.
That said, Lina wasn’t especially interested in being a mother to Gerardo — not surprising, as she was still a child herself when he was born. She was purportedly more interested in playing with dolls than playing with her baby, whom she viewed as a brother, not as a son.
Still, though not much is known about Gerardo Medina’s life, he seemingly had a surprisingly average childhood. According to reporting from Time Magazine in the 1950s, he was “normal” and “intelligent” and interested in learning about electronics.
However, not much else is known about Gerardo Medina’s life, and he seemingly never commented on the circumstances of his birth. Sadly, he died in 1979 when he was just 40 from bone marrow disease.
YouTube/The DreamerMuch of Lina and Gerardo Medina’s lives remain a mystery.
His mother, meanwhile, eventually got married and had one other child. She found work as a secretary for Dr. Gerardo Lozada, the doctor who oversaw Gerardo’s birth. But she’s lived a very quiet life herself in the years since.
Given the shocking events of her childhood, this is hardly surprising. At the age of five years old, Lina Medina — and her son, Gerardo Medina — became known around the world. But while scientifically remarkable, their story, at its core, is one of dark and terrible abuse.
After reading about the quiet life of Gerardo Medina, the child of the youngest mother in the world, Lina Medina, learn about the Mariam Nabatanzi, the world’s most fertile woman who had 44 children by the age of 36. Then, read up on the tragic case of Constance Kent, the Victorian teenager who killed her own baby brother.
