World's oldest woman turns 117
One of the world's oldest living person has turned 117.
Maria Branyas Morera born on March 4, 1907 in San Francisco, lived through the 1918 pandemic, the two World Wars, Spain’s civil war and fully recovered after contracting Covid just days before her 113th birthday.
She was one of the world's oldest Covid survivor's in 2020 and is now the 12th oldest verified person in history.
Maria, who moved to Catalonia, Spain when she was eight, proudly announced her age on X, formerly known as Twitter in a post that read: “Good morning, world. Today I turn 117 years old. I’ve come this far.”
Maria, who has lived in a nursing home for the past 23 years, is healthier than ever aside from hearing difficulties and mobility issues, and scientists are studying her to find out the secrets to a long life.
“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," Scientist Manel Esteller told Spanish outlet ABC.
“It is clear that there is a genetic component because there are several members of her family who are over 90 years old.”
Scientists and Maria are working together to gain further insights into living longer, and researchers hope that studying Maria’s genes will help with the development of drugs which could combat diseases associated with ageing.
Maria had three children with her husband a Catalan doctor named Joan Moret.
Her husband passed away 1976, and Maria also outlived her only son, August who tragically passed away in a tractor accident when he was 86.
Maria now has two daughters, 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
The oldest person ever established was a Frenchwoman named Jeanne Calment, who lived to the age of 122 years and 164 days.
Image: news.com.au/ Guiness Book of Records