Milk cures four-year-old boy with rare genetic disorder that left him unable to smile
Family who were left broken hearted at going two years without seeing son smile are celebrating after he was cured... by milk
A YOUNG boy who forgot how to smile for two years after suffering from a rare disorder has got his grin back after being cured by milk.
Sonny Little, 4, is one of just 25 children worldwide with a rare genetic syndrome called 2Q24.3, in which a small piece is missing from one of the body’s 46 chromosomes which is important for development.
He started suffering fits at three months which grew more severe and frequent until he was having up to 30 fits a day. One 14-minute fit in 2014 left him unable to crawl, eat, laugh, and smile.
He was referred to Victoria Bittle, a dietitian at Bristol Children's Hospital and she started him on a special ketogenic diet of just milk.
The toddler, who is peg fed because he can't take food orally, drinks two pints of multifibre KetoCal milk every day, 200ml every four hours - and nothing else.
This has resulted in his seizures almost completely stopping and now he has learnt how to smile again.
Retail worker mum Kelly, 34, from Trowbridge, Wilts, said: "The first months of Sonny's life were perfect and it was incredible, and then our whole world just collapsed.
"Before, he was able to say 'mumma' and hold things like teddies and was just learning how to commando crawl. He used to roll over and laugh and make noises.
"Then he lost everything. It totally stunted his development and that was absolutely devastating for me and my partner.
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"Sonny didn't smile for almost two years and it broke our hearts." Kelly, who also has a three-year-old son, Rylee, with Martin, 32, a mechanic, added: "The improvement since he started the new diet has been absolutely massive.
"He smiles at me now, and every single time it brings a tear to my eye.
"It is absolutely amazing. It is a miracle for us."
Dr Peta Sharples, consultant paediatric neurologist at Bristol Children's Hospital, said: “Sonny forgot to smile because the signalling pathways within the brain that would normally underpin his ability to do this were being interrupted by frequent seizure discharges.
"When infants develop a severe seizure disorder like Sonny’s, they sometimes regress and lose abilities they had previously acquired.
"We think that this occurs as a result of the abnormal electrical discharges associated with the seizures interfering with brain functioning, including memory.
"This can lead to regression as well as slowing developmental progression.
"We think that Sonny’s development stopped because he had developed seizures." Victoria Bittle, the lad's nutritionist, added the new diet means Sonny's quality of life has "significantly improved" and his seizures reduced by 70 per cent.
She said: "He has been on the diet for a year and has not had one hospital admission since starting the diet."