In China, the father of a boy suffering from deadly Menkes disease managed to create a cure for his son himself.
This deadly disease causes stunted growth, abnormalities of the nervous system, and the characteristic curling of the hair, which is why Menkes disease is also called "curly hair disease. Pathologies of this kind are caused by an abnormality in the cellular transport of copper in the human body - children with this disease do not live longer than a few years.
"We brought him to the doctor because of his slow development. They took a sample from him to do a full genetic test, and he tested positive. I felt devastated, but I couldn't give up. How could I give up on my own child?" said Xu Wei, the child's father. The 30-year-old man, when he learned his child had the disease, first tried to find all sorts of solutions for its treatment, but, finding no alternatives, was able to synthesize an experimental drug himself - the amino acid copper histidine.
At that time, the Chinese man, with only a high school education, enrolled in public courses at the university, through which he learned how to produce pharmaceuticals and provide quality control. Because of the high complexity and high cost of industrial production of the drug he created, it was decided to create it at home.
He first tested the drug on rats, then on himself and only then gave it to his son. The examination showed that the drug helped him partially cured. He is still alive, but he can't roll over or talk.
Earlier, the winner of the Miss Great Britain 2020 beauty pageant confessed to a fatal illness she experienced as a teenager. April Banbury, 32, said she became anorexic when she was 13 because she only ate cookies during the day to lose weight.
You must be logged in to post a comment.