Lorenzo's Oil (Lorenzo's Oil)

Production and year: USA 1992 Genre: Drama Director: George Miller Medical condition: adrenoleukodystrophy Description: The film tells a true story. The year is 1984. The idyllic life of an Italian-American family changes radically when their 6-year-old son, Lorenzo, is diagnosed with adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD). Doctors give the child no more than two years to live. This disease had only been described 10 years earlier—there is no effective treatment. The only ongoing research involves dietary restrictions on children with this condition to limit very-long-chain fatty acids (VLFA), the breakdown of which is impaired in their bodies. These acids accumulate in the brain and cause degradation of the myelin sheaths. Lorenzo’s condition is worsening: he is developing gait and speech disorders, and risky immunosuppression is having no effect. Augusto and Michaela Odone receive support from other families of children with ALD, but they do not want to wait idly. They are educated and fairly well-off, so they decide to quit their jobs and analyze all possible sources of information regarding ALD. They find their first clue in the "Polish Medical Weekly, 1979 edition." It turns out that studies were conducted on rats in which the biosynthesis of these acids intensified when VLFA was absent from their diet. To inhibit this process, another acid would need to be administered—the enzymes responsible for VLFA biosynthesis would then be competitively inhibited. The candidate is oleic acid derived from the purification of olive oil. It turns out that there is only one liter of this substance in the world—left over from a company’s experiments with a new machine lubricant!! The oil works, but only up to a point. The 18-carbon oleic acid is too short—it inhibits VLFA biosynthesis for too short a time—so 22-carbon erucic acid, also derived from edible fats, must be used. The task is undertaken by a retiring engineer who has devoted his entire life to fat fractionation techniques. After successfully purifying rapeseed oil, natural, pure erucic acid is produced.  A year after using Lorenzo’s Oil—a mixture of 4 parts oleic acid and 1 part erucic acid—the boy begins to communicate with the world again—by closing and opening his eyes. However, the damage to the myelin sheaths remains irreversible. The film ends, however, by leaving hope—for a better future. A very poignant, moving film that had a profound impact on me.