Nihal Bitla, the 15-year-old face of Progeria in India, died on Monday night in Telangana’s Karimnagar city. He was attending a family wedding at his native village and was dehydrated, before being admitted to a hospital on Monday evening. According to Team Nihal, he had been suffering from arthritis for a while, News18 reported.

Bitla, who lived with this family in the Mumbai suburb of Bhiwandi, suffered from the rare genetic disorder that makes symptoms of ageing appear at a very early age. Those diagnosed with the disease have a low life expectancy, and most do not survive beyond their teenage years.

Bitla had met Aamir Khan in December 2015, after his Facebook post expressing his wish to meet his favourite actor went viral on social media. Nihal had requested Khan to help spread the awareness about the Progeria Research Foundation’s mission to find others in India who suffer from the disease. According to the foundation, 150 to 200 children worldwide live with the disorder, of which 60 children are believed to be from India.