Adrenoleucodystrophy (ALD)
After watching the movie, we discussed the movie from several different angles. As a result, we have prepared the following summary of the movie as well as several thoughts regarding the movie.
Summary of Movie
Three months after Lorenzo Odone and his family moved to Washington D.C., he began to have behavioral problems that soon grew to include motor skill problems. After testing, he was diagnosed with adrenoleucodystrophy (ALD). ALD is an inherited metabolism disorder in which the enzyme to break down long chains of fat does not work. The fats build up in the brain and cause the myelin sheath around brain cells to liquefy. The brain declines to the point of death within two years.
Augusto and Michaela Odone were not given hope for treatment but they were offered a place in a diet trial that cut out long chain fat foods. Instead of reducing the long chain fat in Lorenzo's blood it increased it. A doctor suggested immunosuppression with chemo- therapy for one month. This was devastating to Lorenzo, not …show more content…
helpful. After this the Odone's realized that they should not have put Lorenzo in the doctors' hands blindly and decided to educate themselves. After much study they discovered that biosynthesis was causing Lorenzo's body to make up for the long chain fats he was not eating by producing its own. The Odones then found evidence that giving Lorenzo another kind of fat that was not harmful to him slowed biosynthesis down.
After they attended the first International ALD Symposium they found a laboratory that could produce the triglyceride olive oil they needed to test their hypothesis.
Al though the doctors didn't trust their findings, they decided to give the olive oil to Lorenzo. His long chain fats dropped fifty percent and then leveled off. Doctors and parents of ALD children were skeptical of their findings because they did not have a medical degree and/or training. Lorenzo's parents decided to look for the rest of the solution to reduce the long chain fats in his blood. Augusto realized the same enzymes, not different ones, regulated the fats. He found a chemist that could produce the rapeseed oil they hoped would trick the body into stopping production of the long chain fats. The doctors did not support his family officially, but some of them helped him unofficially. Augusto was disappointed that they didn't have the courage to challenge the status
quo.
After trying the new oil out on Michaela's sister, they gave Lorenzo the oil. Three months later his blood was normal for the fats. This treatment stopped the progress of the disease but he has irreparable brain damage. Other children were helped by Lorenzo's bootleg oil before the formal trials started. Lorenzo still survives, long after the two-year projection of his death. His parents then began trying to find a way to replace myelin in the brain.
Movie Review
Lorenzo's parents and Louis Pasteur shared many similar frustrations in their respective fights to find cures. They were ignored by respected doctors because they were not doctors in the fields in which they were working. They did not let themselves become tainted by skepticism. In each case, they secretly gave treatments that were yet to be approved. They all realized no theory was accepted without opposition, but progress cannot happen unless people have the courage to provoke and question the status quo. Lorenzo's Oil is actually the medicine that Lorenzo's father made to help him. The oil consists of one part acetic acid, and four parts olive oil (minus the fatty acids that were bad for him). This medicine has become a very important treatment for ADH in boys. This oil causes the blood to not produce the fatty acids that cause the brains of these boys to degenerate. This treatment is very beneficial because it can stop the degeneration before it has a chance to permanently damage the boys. Before the medicine, boys would rapidly get worse until they died within two years of the diagnosis. Once the medicine was administered, there was a chance of a much longer life. The message of the film, and why it was produced, was to encourage people to never give up. There is an old saying, where there is a will, there is a way'. This film fits that statement. This movie was important because it alerted people to this problem. The frequency of a problem should not affect its perceived importance, and need for action from mankind. This disease only affects boys, and a small percentage of them. Yet, its effect on those boys is worth much attention. It should not be ignored just because we do not hear about it that much. It is also important to note how much a parent's love can do. Lorenzo's parents worked for years, against all odds, to try to help their son. When evaluating the effectiveness of the film, it should be evaluated from a minimum of three different approaches. First, the film was excellent in presenting biographical information regarding the story of Lorenzo and his parents. The movie touches the heart and is very entertaining in that respect. Second, the film is very effective at telling the story of this disease and is valuable for its educational content regarding same. Lastly, the film is very effective at providing a "real-life" example of applying the scientific method to a cause. The motion picture also pointed out the caution the scientific and medical communities proceed with when seeking a cure to a disease. An appreciation for the Scientific Method is developed. First, the scientific and medical community did not follow its procedures totally, to the point of adding difficulty. Conversely, at one point in the movie, it appeared that Lorenzo's parents discovered and implemented the scientific method by using common sense. While the movie virtually indicted scientists and doctors for moving too slow, it could be argued that film-makers developed this aspect slightly more than necessary. Nevertheless, the mainstream scientific and medical communities were extremely slow in their acknowledgement, let alone their acceptance of the Odone's research. The movie was very high in educational and entertainment value and should be recommended for family and classroom purp
Summary of Movie
Three months after Lorenzo Odone and his family moved to Washington D.C., he began to have behavioral problems that soon grew to include motor skill problems. After testing, he was diagnosed with adrenoleucodystrophy (ALD). ALD is an inherited metabolism disorder in which the enzyme to break down long chains of fat does not work. The fats build up in the brain and cause the myelin sheath around brain cells to liquefy. The brain declines to the point of death within two years.
Augusto and Michaela Odone were not given hope for treatment but they were offered a place in a diet trial that cut out long chain fat foods. Instead of reducing the long chain fat in Lorenzo's blood it increased it. A doctor suggested immunosuppression with chemo- therapy for one month. This was devastating to Lorenzo, not …show more content…
helpful. After this the Odone's realized that they should not have put Lorenzo in the doctors' hands blindly and decided to educate themselves. After much study they discovered that biosynthesis was causing Lorenzo's body to make up for the long chain fats he was not eating by producing its own. The Odones then found evidence that giving Lorenzo another kind of fat that was not harmful to him slowed biosynthesis down.
After they attended the first International ALD Symposium they found a laboratory that could produce the triglyceride olive oil they needed to test their hypothesis.
Al though the doctors didn't trust their findings, they decided to give the olive oil to Lorenzo. His long chain fats dropped fifty percent and then leveled off. Doctors and parents of ALD children were skeptical of their findings because they did not have a medical degree and/or training. Lorenzo's parents decided to look for the rest of the solution to reduce the long chain fats in his blood. Augusto realized the same enzymes, not different ones, regulated the fats. He found a chemist that could produce the rapeseed oil they hoped would trick the body into stopping production of the long chain fats. The doctors did not support his family officially, but some of them helped him unofficially. Augusto was disappointed that they didn't have the courage to challenge the status
quo.
After trying the new oil out on Michaela's sister, they gave Lorenzo the oil. Three months later his blood was normal for the fats. This treatment stopped the progress of the disease but he has irreparable brain damage. Other children were helped by Lorenzo's bootleg oil before the formal trials started. Lorenzo still survives, long after the two-year projection of his death. His parents then began trying to find a way to replace myelin in the brain.
Movie Review
Lorenzo's parents and Louis Pasteur shared many similar frustrations in their respective fights to find cures. They were ignored by respected doctors because they were not doctors in the fields in which they were working. They did not let themselves become tainted by skepticism. In each case, they secretly gave treatments that were yet to be approved. They all realized no theory was accepted without opposition, but progress cannot happen unless people have the courage to provoke and question the status quo. Lorenzo's Oil is actually the medicine that Lorenzo's father made to help him. The oil consists of one part acetic acid, and four parts olive oil (minus the fatty acids that were bad for him). This medicine has become a very important treatment for ADH in boys. This oil causes the blood to not produce the fatty acids that cause the brains of these boys to degenerate. This treatment is very beneficial because it can stop the degeneration before it has a chance to permanently damage the boys. Before the medicine, boys would rapidly get worse until they died within two years of the diagnosis. Once the medicine was administered, there was a chance of a much longer life. The message of the film, and why it was produced, was to encourage people to never give up. There is an old saying, where there is a will, there is a way'. This film fits that statement. This movie was important because it alerted people to this problem. The frequency of a problem should not affect its perceived importance, and need for action from mankind. This disease only affects boys, and a small percentage of them. Yet, its effect on those boys is worth much attention. It should not be ignored just because we do not hear about it that much. It is also important to note how much a parent's love can do. Lorenzo's parents worked for years, against all odds, to try to help their son. When evaluating the effectiveness of the film, it should be evaluated from a minimum of three different approaches. First, the film was excellent in presenting biographical information regarding the story of Lorenzo and his parents. The movie touches the heart and is very entertaining in that respect. Second, the film is very effective at telling the story of this disease and is valuable for its educational content regarding same. Lastly, the film is very effective at providing a "real-life" example of applying the scientific method to a cause. The motion picture also pointed out the caution the scientific and medical communities proceed with when seeking a cure to a disease. An appreciation for the Scientific Method is developed. First, the scientific and medical community did not follow its procedures totally, to the point of adding difficulty. Conversely, at one point in the movie, it appeared that Lorenzo's parents discovered and implemented the scientific method by using common sense. While the movie virtually indicted scientists and doctors for moving too slow, it could be argued that film-makers developed this aspect slightly more than necessary. Nevertheless, the mainstream scientific and medical communities were extremely slow in their acknowledgement, let alone their acceptance of the Odone's research. The movie was very high in educational and entertainment value and should be recommended for family and classroom purp