WASHINGTON - Lorenzo Odone, whose parents' battle to save him from a nerve disease was portrayed in the movie "Lorenzo's Oil," has died at his home in Virginia. He was 30.
Odone died Friday, a day after his birthday, said his father, Augusto Odone. Doctors had predicted he would die in childhood.
Lorenzo Odone had come down with aspiration pneumonia recently and was dead before an ambulance reached their home, Augusto Odone said.
Lorenzo Odone was diagnosed at age 6 with Adrenoleukodystrophy, or ALD, and doctors told his parents the disease, caused by a genetic mutation that causes the neurological system to break down, would lead to their son's death in two years. But his parents, who did not have scientific backgrounds, worked to find a treatment for the boy.
A study published in 2005, based on research with 84 boys, showed that a treatment made from olive and rapeseed oils and patented by Augusto Odone can prevent onset of the disease's symptoms for most boys who receive a diagnosis of ALD.
We watched the movie in HS. It's amazing he lived this long.
