Invention Of Lorenzo's Oil

The story of Lorenzo's Oil is the extraordinary tale of a mother and father, Michaela and Augusto Odone, who, undertook their own biochemical research in order to invent a treatment for the fatal disease suffered by their son Lorenzo.

In 1983 Lorenzo Odone (USA) was diagnosed with adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), a rare genetic disorder that causes the breakdown of a fatty tissue known as myelin (the protective sheath that surrounds the body's nerve fibres), leading to impaired or lost conduction of nerve impulses between the brain and other parts of the body. Doctors told Lorenzo's parents, Michaela and Augusto, that the disease was always fatal and that there was not cure or treatment - Lorenzo would be dead within two years.

Like most parents, the Odones were not prepared to accept this bleak death sentence. Unlike most parents, they decided to begin their own biochemical research into the disease, despite the fact that neither of them had any scientific training. They eventually invented a combination of two fats extracted from olive oil and rapeseed oil (glyceryl trioleate and glyceryl trierucate) that stopped the disease in it track by preventing the body from producing certain fatty acids, the build-up of which leads to the breakdown of myelin. It was not a cure for ALD, and did not repair already damaged myelin, but it did arrest the progress of the disease. They named it after their son, and Lorenzo's Oil has since become the standard medical treatment for ALD.

Thanks to his parents, Lorenzo defied the doctors' predictions, and celebrated his 25th birthday on 29 May 2003. Sadly, ALD had ravaged his body, but his mind is still active; he communicates by blinking his eyelids to say "no" and wiggling his fingers to say "yes". There is still hope that Lorenzo might regain his speech and fill mobility if the Myelin Project, set up by the Odones in 1989, is successful in finding a method that will actually repair myelin, which would be an even greater achievement than the invention of Lorenzo's Oil. The medical profession is still trying to prove scientifically whether or not Lorenzo's Oil works, but for many people the fact that Lorenzo has survived 20 years, and that other sufferers, when treated early, have remained symptom-free, is proof enough.

Source - The Book Of Inventions by Ian Harrison.