Augusto Odone obituary

Father who was determined not to let his gravely ill son die, and inspired the film Lorenzo's OilThe tale of the determined amateur who proves the professionals wrong is always a compelling one, but with Augusto Odone – who has died aged 80 – it went much deeper. In 1984, his youngest child, Lorenzo, just a month away from his sixth birthday, was diagnosed with adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), a neurological disorder that causes the degeneration of the brain in young boys. "We were told to go home and watch Lorenzo die," Odone recalled. Neither he nor his wife, Michaela, was prepared to do that.And so Augusto, an economist based at the World Bank in Washington DC, who had no scientific training, spent the time that he was not caring for his boy in the library of the George Washington University near his home, trying to understand ALD. It was, he read, linked to the accumulation of Very Long Chain Fatty Acids (VLCFA). How would it be, Odone suggested to various medical experts on the basis of his own reading, if the properties of oleic and erucic acids in combating VLCFA were combined? Might that halt the development of ALD? He organised seminars and conferences to seek expert opinion, but the establishment was sceptical, especially over the use of erucic acid.Here Odone's essential character – determined, driven, sometimes even wilful, telephoning colleagues in the middle of the night when an idea occurred to him, so eager was he to translate it into action – took him furt...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: theguardian.com United States Obituaries Culture World news Health Medical research Society Europe Neuroscience Italy Film Source Type: news