Sunday, April 06, 2008
Research
A boy paralysed from the neck down for five years is regaining movement thanks to a nutritonal supplement.
Timothy Bingham's condition was so rare that it was dubbed 'Bingham's syndrome'.
The breakthrough came when Timothy, now 10, was referred to doctors at Great Ormond Street who found he was lacking a vital amino acid, L-serine. Timothy from Cheltenham has been taking L-serine since October. He can now talk and move his arms.
Problems first occurred when Timothy was two, when a flu-like illness left him temporarily unable to walk. Three years later, he suffered another bout of flu and lost control of the whole of his body. Timothy has been in a wheelchair ever since, and has only been able to communicate through eye movements.
He was referred to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, where doctors worked out Timothy was suffering from an amino acid deficiency. L-serine is present in the diet - it is commonly found in animal proteins. However, when healthy people are not eating, their bodies are able to make serine. Timothy is unable to do this adequately and so he has low levels of serine in the blood when fasting.
Timothy now takes a nutritional supplement which contains L-serine. He said: "I couldn't do a lot of stuff that I can do now. I feel positive about the future." His mother Kate says she hopes Timothy will continue to make progress. She said: "We're in a long, dark tunnel. Before we were having to feel our way through blind because there was no-one to compare Tim with. But now there is a small light at the end of that tunnel. One day we hope he'll be able to play with his friends and live a normal life."
The doctor who found the key to Timothy's condition was paediatric metabolic medicine specialist, Professor Peter Clayton. He said he had only heard of one other case of serine deficiency producing paralysis. Other cases of serine deficiency have been reported - but this is usually linked to epilepsy and developmental problems, rather than paralysis. However, he decided to try L-serine treatment after seeing Timothy's test results.
He said: "Since starting treatment with L-serine Timothy has regained significant power in his arms. He is able to throw a ball which he couldn't do before treatment started. There are some signs of power returning in the legs but he is not walking yet. I think we should not assume too much at this stage, but obviously we are delighted with Timothy's progress so far."
Published: 2007/03/20 13:45:31 GMT
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