THE world’s oldest living person Maria Branyas Morera has turned 117 today.
Born on 4 March 1907 in San Francisco, the grandmother has lived her life since she was eight in Spain’s Catalonia – and has been in the same nursing home for the past 23 years.
Maria scooped the incredible title of the world’s oldest living person after French nun Lucile Randon died aged 118 in January last year.
Interestingly, Maria is quite active on X, formerly Twitter, and posts regularly with the help of other people.
She wrote a post today saying: “Good morning, world. Today I turn 117 years old. I’ve come this far.”
The staff of the nursing home says Maria has been doing incredibly well with her health – and has no physical or mental problems beyond hearing difficulties and mobility issues.
Maria’s exceptional health at such an age has forced scientists to study her body.
Scientist Manel Esteller told Spanish outlet ABC: “She has a completely lucid head.
“She remembers with impressive clarity events from when she was only four years old, and she does not present any cardiovascular disease, common in elderly people.
“It is clear that there is a genetic component because there are several members of her family who are over 90 years old.”
Maria has agreed to undergo scientific testing by researchers who hope to gain valuable insight into the secrets to long life.
Researchers have collected samples of Maria’s saliva, blood and urine and will compare them with those of her 80-year-old daughter.
Scientists hope that studying Maria’s genes will help with the development of drugs which could combat diseases associated with ageing.
Maria has lived through the 1918 pandemic, the two World Wars and Spain’s civil war
She got married in 1931 to a Catalan doctor named Joan Moret, with whom she had three children.
While her husband passed away in 1976, Maria has outlived their only son, August, who died in a tragic tractor accident at the age of 86.
She now has two daughters, 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
Maria played the piano from when she was a child to the age of 108 years old when she lost the nimbleness in her fingers.
Brave Maria also survived Covid-19, which she contracted only a few weeks after turning 113.
After spending time in the hospital, she made a full recovery within days and was back to living her normal life in the nursing home.
She also scooped the title of the world’s oldest Covid survivor title in 2020, but it was later by Lucile Randon, who was three years older than Maria.
Source: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/26343120/worlds-oldest-person-maria-branyas-morera/
