Lorenzo's Oil Page #2

- Yes.

Ten years ago the disease

hadn't even been identified.

We're still trying to

understand just what it is.

I would like to

offer you some hope, but...

Then there's absolutely no treatment?

Normally at this point

we try to be constructive.

We try to focus on what can be done.

But in this case...

When we get home, can we read a story?

Of course, my darling.

Lorenzino, let's go home.

Mr Odone? I have

a Dr Judalon on line three.

- Good. Put him through.

- They're waiting for you in the meeting.

All right, thank you.

- Hello?

- Augusto?

I just got off the phone

to Gus Nikolais...

...a professor of neurology at

the Institute of Childhood Diseases.

If there is a so-called "world expert"

on the leukodystrophies, Nikolais is it.

- Ah, good.

- I don't want to raise false hopes...

...but he's working on

an experimental protocol based on a diet.

Wonderful.

Peanut butter, red meat, cheese...

Unpeeled fruit, spinach, olive oil...

But these are healthy foods.

Yes, but they contain

very long-chain saturated fats.

I...

I still do not understand why

they are so harmful to Lorenzo.

- Why are they so destructive?

- How can spinach make the difference?

The human body needs these fats

in order to create cells...

...and the excess is burned off.

That's normally, of course.

But in the case of an ALD boy,

these saturates can't be broken down...

...and they build up in the brain.

And somehow this build-up

strips the myelin covering.

Yes, exactly. And, for the moment,

we don't know why this is.

But we feel that, by withdrawing

the saturated fats from the diet...

...we will prevent them

accumulating in the brain.

And if we could?

There's no way to reverse

neurological damage.

All we can hope for is

to slow the cascade of symptoms.

But if it's any consolation to you,

you'll be helping us...

...understand the biochemistry

of this heartless disease.

So, can we enrol Lorenzo in our trial?

I suppose so.

Good. Then I will pass you

over to our dietician...

...and meanwhile we should arrange

some genetic counselling.

Oh, Dr Nikolais, it's highly unlikely

that we will have another child.

No, but your sisters and their daughters

may all be carriers.

- We need to test them.

- Only my family? What about his?

No, no. ALD is passed

only through the mother.

But I thought you understood all this.

We knew it was inborn, but...

...we assumed that meant

a combination of our genes.

That's true in other inherited diseases...

...but ALD is only carried

on the female chromosome.

Excuse me.

Are you saying that Lorenzo

got this directly from me?

Well, in the sense that

ALD is sex-linked, yes.

It goes from mother to son.

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