HISTORY

Abigail is a young girl from UK. She was admitted to Puhua International Hospital for biotherapy of Batten disease, she had a history of “jerks of limbs and unsteady walking for two years, onsets of tics and unable to see well for more than six months.”

Batten disease is an autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disease, which is rare but fatal. It starts in childhood, usually present around the ages 4-10. Signs and symptoms grow gradually, with the onset of seizures and/or vision problems. At the beginning, it may cause slow learning or regression, slight changes on personality and behavior, echolalia (or repetitive speech), stumbling, clumsiness, curvature of spine, slowing head growth in the infantile form, etc. As the patient grows up, worsening seizures, mental impairment, and progressive loss of sight, speech, and motor skills will prevail. Finally, patients will be bedridden, blind, and suffer serious and progressive mental compromise.

Physical condition before biotherapy for Batten disease

Before biotherapy, her disease impaired Abigail’s speech, mobility, and eyesight. Her speech was slurred and slow. As a result of increased muscle tone, Abigail suffered involuntary shakes/spasms of all four limbs. She was weak. She couldn’t hold a cup to take a drink. Due to her weakness and spasms, she was unable to stand straight, and could not ambulate, even walk with help. Most of the time, Abigail would just lie down. She had no motivation.

She was not to perceive light.

Biotherapy for Batten disease

Injections of neural growth factor, self neural growth factor activation and proliferation therapy, and rehabilitation therapy (physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy)

Medical condition after biotherapy for Batten disease

Interview of Abigail after biotherapy for Batten disease:

After biotherapy, Abigail made great and surprising improvements. Her speech became clearer and sometimes she liked singing or talking. She became energetic and more active than before. Her balance for walking and standing was better. She was able to walk some steps by herself and walk for a little longer period of time with help (by holding her hand) with a more stable and flexible gait. She was able to pick up and grab objects without obvious shaking, so she can begin to feed herself better, since she also had an improved ability to swallow.
Her eyesight improved. She became relatively sensitive to bright light and became able to distinguish day from night. She began to enjoy looking at the windows, and she was able to see the bedside lamp.
Abigail’s mother(Christine) and father(Kevin)feel that the results are better than what they had expected. They hope that Abigail will gain more improvements in the future.
Weekly news of North Wales also reported the story about how Abigail and her family are fighting with her Batten disease. See the article here:

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/local-news/little-abigail-responding-well-stem-2745061

Follow up

Three weeks after Abigail's discharge from PIH, she was continuing to respond well to Nerve growth factor treatment. She was working very hard with her walking and talking.