Olivia Farnsworth: The strange girl who doesn’t feel hunger, pain or need to sleep!

Medics and Olivia Farnsworth's family are astonished by her rare chromosome condition, specifically a deletion on chromosome 6.

Olivia Farnsworth, a cute little girl who baffled medics when they discovered she has a strange chromosome condition that omitted the feelings of hunger, fatigue or pain from her life forever. It’s a “rarer than rare” medical condition.

The ‘bionic’ girl Olivia Farnsworth

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Olivia Farnsworth. Thomas Temple / RossParry / Fair Use

The UK girl Olivia is believed to be the only person in the world to exhibit the three symptoms together. It’s strange and miraculous at the same time.

The strange disorder even allows her to go five to six days without sleeping and feeding. Her life is just unbelievably strange surrounded by an unexplained science-mystery. To say, Olivia has the strange super-human abilities that attract millions of people to know her engrossing story.

Although the rare condition of little Olivia is described as “chromosome 6 deletion”, the mix of super-human abilities in such a way has never been reported before. Some of the doctors have even called her the “bionic girl” who is made of steel and has got no sense of danger.

How the symptoms of this rare medical condition started showing in Olivia’s life

In 2016, when Olivia was only 7-year-old, she once went out with her mother and got run over. Eventually, she was hit by a car and dragged about 100 feet down the road. After that terrible accident, she just got up and started walking back to her mother. She was just like, “What’s going on?”

Because of the impact, she should have had severe injuries. She had a tyre mark on her chest. But her only injuries were she had no skin on her toe and hip.

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Photos of Olivia when she was injured. Thomas Temple / RossParry / Fair Use

Also, she once fell badly and ripped her lip off and didn’t say anything to her parents. Later, she had to have major plastic surgery to correct it.

What is chromosome disorder?

Chromosome abnormality or chromosome disorder is a missing, extra, or irregular portion of chromosomal DNA. People with chromosome disorders suffer from various diseases and disabilities – one common disorder is Down’s Syndrome which is a genetic chromosome 21 disorder causing developmental and intellectual delays. But the case of the Bionic Girl Olivia is completely strange and more fascinating to make anyone absolutely astounded.

The chromosomal deletion syndrome: What it is? And how it does affect a person?

Olivia Farnsworth
Cell Structure. Nucleus with chromosomes, DNA molecule (double helix), telomere and gene (length of DNA that codes for a specific protein). Istock

Inside the nucleus of our each body cell are microscopic bodies called chromosomes that are responsible for the function and reproduction of each cell in our body, empowering us to live. Chromosomes are made of two large molecules or strands of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), actually, these strands are called the genes, that give the instructions that control over the cell’s function and reproduction. To say, the genes control everything to make us live.

Human cells have 23 pairs of chromosomes (one pair of “sex chromosomes” that indicate the male or female and 22 pairs of “autosomes” that contain the rest of the genetic hereditary information), giving a total of 46 per cell. Hence, we normally have 23 types of chromosomes and have two copies of our each and every chromosome.

Chromosomal deletion syndromes result from partially or totally deletion of a single or multi chromosome-pairs. However, chromosomal deletion syndromes typically indicate larger deletions or a total pair deletion that are visible using karyotyping techniques. Although, some losses of the specific gene-function are also considered to be the part of Chromosome deletion, since being a smaller form of deletion or so-called ‘Chromosomal Microdeletion-syndrome’.

There are hundreds of diseases and disabilities linked to a single pair of chromosome deletion or loss of the specific genes-function. Some examples of those syndromes are cited below here:

  • Chromosome 5-Deletion that causes cri du chat syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, etc.
  • Chromosome 4-Deletion that causes Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, Bladder cancer, Chronic lymphocytic leukemia, etc.
  • Prader–Willi syndrome – actually, this genetic disorder occurs due to the loss of the specific gene-functions, instead of a chromosome deletion. In newborns, symptoms include weak muscles, poor feeding, and slow development.
  • Angelman Syndrome (AS) – it’s a genetic disorder that mainly affects the nervous system. Symptoms include a small head and a specific facial appearance, severe intellectual disability, developmental disability, speaking problems, balance and movement problems, seizures, and sleep problems. It also occurs due to the function-losses of some specific genes.

Chromosome 6 deletion of Olivia Farnsworth

In the case of Olivia Farnsworth, Chromosome 6 is totally omitted that usually spans more than 170 million base pairs (the building material of DNA) and represents between 5.5 and 6% of the total DNA in cells. It contains the Major Histocompatibility Complex, which contains over 100 genes related to the immune response, some other body responses and their various complex functions. This type of chromosomal deletion has never been reported before, and the researchers are still finding how and why did she develop such a strange and peculiar disorder!

However, there are many different chromosome 6 aberrations possible, each with different symptoms, and all of them are extremely rare. The further information and the possibility to sign up and participate in the “Chromosome 6 Research Project” is available on Chromosome6.org.

Olivia Farnsworth’s future

Olivia now lives in Huddersfield City, UK. Her mother Nikki Trepak takes care of her as much as possible. Though Olivia never feels hungry, she needs to eat. She does not feel pain, but her body can suffer, simply she will never realize it. Thankfully, she has a supportive family who always take care of their little Olivia.

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Olivia Farnsworth with her mother Nikki Trepak. Thomas Temple / RossParry / Fair Use

Olivia’s mother every time makes sure that Olivia does not skip meals and consumes the necessary calories to make healthy herself. But the sad part is that little Olivia is given sleeping pills every night so she can rest. In addition, they take weekly medical checkups to check if she doesn’t have any internal injuries or illnesses.

Following the doctors’ advice, Olivia’s parents continue to raise her like others children. They send her to school. Even, among all the adversity, she is known as a briliant student in school. She is also good in sports and games. However, the only problem is that Olivia becomes extremely angry when someone pokes or humiliates her. Then she tries to harm them with something or hit her own head on the wall by force.

Olivia’s parents took appointments with a number of psychologists and psychiatrists for this problem, but they couldn’t do anything about it. According to them, these are symptoms of the structural problems of Olivia’s chromosome.

It’s true Olivia’s body has some incredibly unique characteristics that have been fascinating humans since the beginning. But anyone can feel exactly how Olivia and her family are spending the days in a distressing situation.

Moreover, the medics do not know how to deal with the strange case of Olivia Farnsworth, or if it can be treated since it is the first recorded case in history.

For that reason, her mom Nikki Trepak and the family have decided to have a crowdfunding page to help them continue funding the research. She has been backed by the chromosome disorder support group Unique.


After reading about Olivia Farnsworth, read about Amina Ependieva – a Chechen girl who is admired for her unusual beauty, then read about Natasha Demkina: The lady with X-ray eyes!

Olivia Farnsworth – The girl with chromosome 6 deletion