This is ALD #17 — Margaret, Andy and a long family history of ALD

My name is Margaret Bray. I’m 47 years old and an ABCD1 obligate, symptomatic, carrier (more on this will be posted tomorrow). Out of my three sons, only my middle son has inherited the gene. My sister is Jamie Garrison Barlow and she’s a carrier. She passed the gene to both of her kids – a daughter and her son, Bradley Hartman, who passed away last July at the age of 21. Her daughter gave birth, with a little medical assistance, to a beautiful girl on July 1, 2017, who is not a carrier. It’s a wonderful and beautiful story!

My mom is a 72 year old symptomatic carrier. She is Jamie’s biological mom also. (Jamie was given up for adoption at birth by our mom. She was reunited with Mom and met me on November 3, 1999. That’s when she learned of the family history of ALD.)

Mom and I suspect that the ABCD1 gene originated with my great-grandmother. She was as born in July 1895 in Kingman County, Kansas and was an only child. I’m not certain if she was brought up Mennonite, but that is the community in which she and her husband, who was raised Mennonite, raised their family, on a farm close to Pretty Prairie, Kansas.
My great-grandmother gave birth to 12 children, 7 of whom survived to adulthood. Their first was born in 1916. He passed away in 1922 after “a short illness,” and/or “summer complaint.” This raises all sorts of red flags for me, looking back at family history, not the least of which is the age, 6 years old, at which he passed. In all, my great-grandmother had four babies that did not live past a year old.

My mom does not remember any of her cousins presenting any ALD symptoms, but my grandmother’s siblings spread far and wide across the United States, and some family members Mom has only met a handful of times. So that leads us to believe that the only unfortunate bearers of this stupid disease were my great grandparent’s first son and my grandmother.

My grandmother was born in 1925 in the farmhouse (as were all of the babies, the Mennonite community likely had a midwife or two to assist with the births.) She tired of the farm life and longed to live somewhere else. I don’t know the circumstances that led her to be swept off her feet, but she got married, and then had my mom in 1945. Within two years after Mom was born, my grandmother grew dissatisfied with her marriage and got a divorce.

She remarried and her new husband accepted Mom as his own. They went on to have 4 boys. Their second son died from “Schilder’s Disease” when he was 6. Their oldest son was for years misdiagnosed as having Multiple Sclerosis. When a new neurologist connected his symptoms with his brother’s diagnosis, he was confirmed to have AMN. He was wheelchair bound by the end of his 30’s. He committed suicide in 1997 at the age of 46. Their youngest son had mobility issues starting in his late 20’s and was diagnosed with AMN. He died from complications from AMN in 2001 at the age of 39. Sadly their other son who was not effected by ALD, died of AIDS in 1993 at the age of 35.

Margaret, her mother Paula Sauter and sister Jamie Barlow

I have three sons, Patrick who will be 19 at the end of February, Andy, who is 15, and Alexander, who is 2. Of my boys, only Andy has inherited the ABCD1 gene. We found this out when Andy was 5 months and Patrick was 4 years old. This was after much inner conflict and distress on my part. I’m glad I did, however, because it gave me time to research all possible avenues of medical therapy.

My husband-at-the-time and I decided to get Andy into the Lorenzo’s Oil Study at Kennedy Krieger Institute. We had to wait until he was 18 months old before we could get him in. We went to Baltimore in July 2004 for the first time. What a crash course in how to cook and how to negotiate through the grocery store! (Lorenzo’s Oil is a combination of oils, when combined with a low fat diet is thought to slow the progression of the disease) Andy stayed with the study until 2012, 8 years in all. Kennedy Krieger’s funding kept getting cut, first the MRIs got cut and I had to arrange for them in town, then the neuropsych testing got cut and it wasn’t something I could get done on my own, so we made the decision to stop being in the study.

Taken during Andy’s Make-a-Wish trip to Legoland October, 2014. Jamie Barlow, nephew Bradley Hartman, the amazing ALD hero Janis Sherwood, Andy, Patrick, and Margaret.

 
Life outside of the study has been interesting. I’ve been trying to teach Andy how to negotiate what he eats on a daily basis, to get him to choose lower fat options when available. He’s 15, so only so much of what I say gets heard. He gets yearly MRIs, and continues to have clear ones at that. I like to think that the L’Oil has something to do with that, but I can’t be entirely certain ever. It’s like we are eternally fated to be Damocles, with the sword of ALD hanging by a mere horsehair above us, never certain when, or if, the hair will break and life as we knew it would end and our new life with ALD begins.

— Margaret

*******

When I first read this piece I was in awe of how thorough this family history is. It’s clear that Margaret, her sister and mother have been determined to have this research complete – not just for their family, but for others to see how a disease can wind through a family.

An unfortunate family history that shows ALD at it’s worst. Marching through a family allowing few to escape it’s grip – especially in the case of her grandmother’s family. Many lives taken too young and so much time wasted with misdiagnosis. THIS is what newborn screening can prevent.

Andy is lucky to have such a devoted mother who clearly has done everything possible to keep him out of harms way. I can’t thank you enough Margaret for sharing your family history with us and for your family’s continued support for the ALD community.

Tomorrow I am going to share Margaret’s story as a symptomatic carrier. It’s a side of ALD that many don’t know.

Love, Jess