Little boy has ‘wasted away’ after chickenpox ‘unlocked rare disease that can cause blindness’

A FOUR-year-old boy is wasting away in front of his parent's eyes after chickenpox triggered a rare genetic condition.

Tiago Gouveia, from London, was a healthy toddler up until the age of three when he was exposed to the chickenpox virus while playing with his cousin.

But the virus triggered an inherited degenerative disease called spinocerebellar ataxia type7 that had been lying dormant in the youngster.

Because the youngster’s immune system was weakened by the virus, the degenerative condition that causes the central nervous system to breakdown was able to attack.

Tiago's father, Marvino Gouveia, 39, is a carrier of the disease and has watched his mother, sister and niece battle the illness.

The condition causes the breakdown of muscles in the body, leading to the loss of motor skills and speech and, in some cases, blindness.

Poor Tiago's body has deteriorated so badly that he weighs in at just one stone 10lbs – half the average weight for a four-year-old boy.

Marvino said: "This is the fourth generation that I have had to see my family suffer from this illness.

"It is a curse because actually my mum said that nothing had ever happened before her.

"Since then, I have seen her, my sister and her niece suffer with the disease.