A resident of Brazil, who claims to be 126 years old, can be recognized as the oldest person on Earth, writes The Telegraph, citing Brazilian media. The director of a nursing home is ready to help him in this, as he is looking for money for a carbon test that would help prove the age of a Hispanic gentleman.
At the same time, no one is embarrassed that the Brazilian looks much younger than his supposed age, and even is reputed to be a joker.
José Aginelo dos Santos, who lived his entire life without any documents, received a birth certificate when he moved to a nursing home and dumbfounded officials by declaring that he was born on July 7, 1888. This happened in the city of Pedra Branca in northern Brazil, two months after slavery was abolished in Brazil (this Latin American state at that time was the last power to recognize the slave trade).
The man said that his parents were slaves brought to Latin America from Africa. With his large family (he had four brothers and sisters), dos Santos continued to live on the plantation even though slavery was abolished. As he grew up, he traveled south to the state of São Paulo, where he spent most of his life growing coffee in the city of Bauru.
Jose Aginelo dos Santos stated that he was 26 when the First World War began and was already 65 when Queen Elizabeth II ascended the British throne. Officials were surprised by his stories, but issued a birth certificate indicating the date that the man named. This happened after the old man spoke with experts and described his childhood to them, and his memories coincided in historical documents.
Local media, sensing the sensation, tracked down the elderly Brazilian and even interviewed him. Journalists write that the man lives in the same city of Bauru, he recently moved to a nursing home. He has never been married and has no children.
The eyewitnesses are amazed that, despite the supposed considerable age, the man has no health problems and even walks without a wand. Doctors found neither high blood pressure, nor diabetes, nor high cholesterol in him. And this despite the fact that for the past 50 years, dos Santos, according to him, smokes a pack of cigarettes a day and eats four times a day.
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A psychologist from a nursing home, Mariana Silva, said that a Brazilian is always in great health and mood. He loves to tell jokes, make everyone laugh with funny jokes and sing. At the same time, as Silva noted, none of the old people living in the institution can remember the songs that the man sings. The only problem, the psychologist noted, is to force the old man to wash: taking a shower is not his favorite pastime.
The nursing home expects that now that dos Santos has a birth certificate in his hands, he will be able to officially receive the title of the oldest person on the planet. True, in order to finally dispel all doubts about his age, a man will have to pass a carbon age test, which costs about 22 thousand dollars, which is about 50 thousand Brazilian reais. Note that for this money, according to the information of the real estate agency VivaReal, you can buy even a small apartment in the capital of the state, the city of São Paulo.
Director José Roberto Pires said that he and other staff at the institution are determined to find the necessary funding and give dos Santos this test: "We believe that if the world's oldest person lives here with us, we must prove it."
Currently, the oldest person on the planet is 116-year-old Japanese woman Misao Okawa, who gladly shares the secrets of her longevity: “Eat and sleep, and you will live long. You must also learn to relax."
The title of the oldest man belongs to the 111-year-old Japanese Sakari Momoi. He worked as a school teacher all his life and, having lived to such a venerable age, does not complain of health and does not suffer from any diseases.