Brazilian great-grandmother nears record as world's oldest
119-year-old Dona Deolira Glicéria Pedro da Silva from Brazil is being studied by scientists at the Human Genome and Stem Cell Research Center at the University of São Paulo. The researchers aim to understand the elderly woman better and uncover the secret of her longevity. She and her family are trying to get her recognition by Guinness World Records.
Considered one of the oldest women in the world, Dona Deolira was born in 1905 in Porciúncula, located in the northwestern part of Rio. She will turn 120 on March 10.
She is cared for by her two 60-year-old granddaughters. According to them, their grandmother has always been very active at home. She took care of the house, the yard, pigs, and chickens. She maintains a healthy lifestyle, eats a variety of foods, and really likes bananas. She avoids pineapple due to an allergy.
The oldest woman in the world. She will turn 120 in two months
The elderly woman had seven children, three of whom are still alive. She has 20 grandchildren, 40 great-grandchildren, and 37 great-great-grandchildren.
According to Reuters, just two months before her 120th birthday, Deolira Glicería Pedro da Silva, a great-grandmother from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is seeking recognition as the oldest living person in the world.
The current titleholder for the oldest living person is another Brazilian woman, Inah Canabarro Lucas, a nun from the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, who is 116 years old. However, Deolira's family and doctors are hopeful that she will soon take over the title.
"She is still not in the book, but she is the oldest in the world according to the documents we have on her, as I recently discovered," said Deolira's granddaughter, Doroteia Ferreira da Silva, who is half the age of her grandmother.
The documents indicate that Pedro da Silva was born on March 10, 1905, in rural Porciúncula, a small town in the state of Rio. She currently resides in a colourfully painted house in Itaperuna.
Doctors and scientists are closely monitoring the grandmother, intrigued by how she has lived over four decades longer than the average life expectancy in Brazil, which is currently 76.4 years.
Geriatric doctor Juair de Abreu Pereira, who regularly examines Pedro da Silva and supports her family in their efforts to set a Guinness World Record, noted that Mrs. Deolira is in good overall health for her age and does not require any medication.
As her doctor mentioned, major floods in the region nearly twenty years ago destroyed most of Deolira's original documents.
