Lizzie Velasquez Must Eat Every 15 Minutes to Stay Alive

(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) - On her website, 21-year-old Lizzie Velasquez writes that she wants readers to know she is "a normal girl."

"I love to laugh, spend time with my friends and family and just enjoy life," she writes . "Please don't feel like you have to treat me different just because I look different."

Velasquez has a rare condition that prevents her from gaining weight. Even though she consumes 60 small meals equaling 5,000 to 8,000 calories each day, she has zero percent body fat and weighs just 56 pounds. She's 5 feet, 2 inches tall.

Born four weeks premature and weighing just 2 pounds, 10 ounces, doctors wonder how she could have survived, noting that there was minimal amniotic fluid protecting her in the womb, reports the Daily Telegraph .

Doctors speculated that she might have the genetic disorder De Barsy syndrome. But with no learning disabilities, they ruled that condition out.

She's now part of a genetic study run by Dr. Abhimanyu Garg at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas . He and his team believe Velasquez may have a form of Neonatal Progeroid Syndrome (NPS), which causes accelerated aging, fat loss from the face and body, and tissue degeneration, reports the Daily Telegraph .

Velasquez remains positive and shares on her website some of the "normal" activities she's been involved in: varsity cheerleading in high school, student council, Sunday school teacher, vacation Bible camp leader, and communications major at Texas State University.

She has also helped to write a book about her experiences , due out in September.

"People have asked me if I had a miracle or a chance to change the way I look, I honestly know I would never do that," she writes. "God made me the way I am for a reason and I would never change that. I lead a normal life as much as possible and deal with the bumps in the road as they come along with my head held high and a smile on my face!"