Brazilian woman, 119, sets sights on record as world's oldest
119-year-old Dona Deolira Glicéria Pedro da Silva from Brazil is set to be studied by scientists from the Human Genome and Stem Cell Research Center at the University of São Paulo. The researchers aim to better understand the elderly woman and uncover the secret of her longevity. She and her family are attempting to have her entered into the 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 lives healthily, eats everything, and really likes bananas. The only thing she avoids is pineapple because she's allergic to it.
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, two months before her 120th birthday, Deolira Glicéria Pedro da Silva, a great-grandmother from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is seeking recognition as the oldest living person in the world.
Currently, 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 confident she will soon take over the nun's 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 show that Pedro da Silva was born on March 10, 1905, in rural Porciúncula, a small town in the state of Rio. She currently lives in a colorfully painted house in Itaperuna.
Doctors and scientists are keenly observing the grandmother, interested in how she has managed to live over four decades longer than the average life expectancy in Brazil, now set at 76.4 years.
Geriatric doctor Juair de Abreu Pereira, who regularly examines Pedro da Silva and supports her family in their efforts to achieve a Guinness World Record, noted that Mrs. Deolira is in good health for her age and does not require any medication.
According to her doctor, major floods in the region nearly twenty years ago destroyed most of Deolira's original documents.