Sampson "Sam" Gordon Berns (October 23, 1996 – January 10, 2014) was an American who suffered from progeria and helped raise awareness about the disease.He was the subject of the HBO documentary Life According to Sam.[1][3] His parents, Scott Berns and Leslie Gordon, both pediatricians, received their son's diagnosis when he was less than two years of age.[4] Roughly a year later, they established the Progeria Research Foundation[5] in an effort to increase awareness of the condition, to promote research into the underlying causes of and possible treatments for the disease, and to offer resources for the support of sufferers and their families.Sam Berns is a Junior at Foxboro High School in Foxboro, Massachusetts, where he has achieved highest honors and is currently a percussion section leader in the high school marching band. He recently achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America. Sam was diagnosed with Progeria, a rare, rapid aging disease, at the age of 2. He