"Hi. I'm John Tacket. I'm 15 years old, and I have Progeria, as you can see, and I'm very excited to be here and it is an honor to be the youth ambassador for Progeria. This is a very exciting time for me and also for my friends because we know what the gene is that makes our disease show up in us. This is the first step and we're looking forward to the second step, a cure and treatment. But for now we just live our life . . . and do all the things kids do. No problem, I'm very content right now. Even though I have Progeria, some might think that I'd be down, but I'm not. This is great that the doctors are working and researching and I know they are working very hard. . . . This is a very exciting time."
- John Tackett at the Progeria gene discovery announcement at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on April 16, 2003.