Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD)- Lorenzo's Oil.
Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) also known as Addison-Schilder Disease or Siemerling-Creutzfeldt Disease, is one of a group of genetic disorders called the leukodystrophies that cause damage to the myelin sheath, an insulating membrane that surrounds nerve cells in the brain.
Women have two X-chromosomes and are the carriers of the disease, but since men only have one X-chromosome and lack the protective effect of the extra X-chromosome, they are more severely affected.
The childhood form is the most severe, with onset between ages 4 and 10. The most common symptoms are usually behavioral changes such as abnormal withdrawal or aggression, poor memory, and poor school performance. Other symptoms include visual loss, learning disabilities, seizures, poorly articulated speech, difficulty swallowing, deafness, disturbances of gait and coordination, fatigue, intermittent vomiting, increased skin pigmentation, and progressive dementia. In the adult form between ages 21 and 35, symptoms may include progressive stiffness, weakness or paralysis of the lower limbs, and ataxia.
Death usually occurs within 1 to 10 years after the onset of symptoms.
Lorenzo Odone is dead at the age of 30 years thanks to the love of parents who found a cure for him (a treatment based on olive oil and rape) currently recognized as effective treatment against his rare neurological disorder, the aldrenoleukodystrophy. Its history in 1993 became a film the oil of Lorenzo with Nick Nolte and Susan sarandon and a piece of Phil Collins in 1996.
Comments