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Lorenzo Michael Murphy Odone (May 29, 1978 – May 30, 2008) was an American adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) patient whose parents, Augusto and Michaela Odone, sought a treatment for the disease. He was also the subject of the 1992 film Lorenzo's Oil which starred Nick Nolte and Susan Sarandon.^[1] Additionally, Phil Collins translated a poem written by Michaela to Lorenzo to music for the song "Lorenzo" in his 1996 album Dance into the Light.

Quest for a treatment

With the limited research available, his father Augusto discovered Lorenzo's oil, which is the first agent to have shown therapeutic benefit in halting the destruction of the myelin sheathing of nerves caused by this disease. His parents' quest for a treatment for Lorenzo was depicted in the 1992 film Lorenzo's Oil.

Death

Lorenzo died at his home in Fairfax, Virginia on May 30, 2008, one day after his 30th birthday, with his father Augusto and his life long friend Oumouri Hassane at his side. He had come down with aspiration pneumonia after getting food stuck in his lungs. He began breathing heavily (erroneously described by various media reports as "bleeding heavily"), and before an ambulance reached his home he was already dead.

He had lived more than 20 years longer than doctors had predicted and is the oldest survivor of ALD.^[2]

See also

• The Myelin Project

Further reading

• Kugler, Mary. "ALD and Lorenzo's Oil". About. http://rarediseases.about.com/cs/ald/a/041301.htm. Retrieved 2006-06-03.  
• Vedantam, Shankar. "A Real-Life Sequel to 'Lorenzo's Oil'; After His Death, Scientist's Work May Bear Fruit." The Washington Post. January 28, 2007.

References

External links

• Lorenzo Odone - Daily Telegraph obituary