While listening to the radio this morning, I heard a sad story that brought tears to my eyes. A little girl was surprisingly celebrating her third birthday. Specialists had told her parents that she wouldn’t live to see her first birthday. Her father went on to explain that she had severe brain degeneration caused by mitochondrial disease. He did not know how much longer she would be with their family. She had not achieved any of the familiar childhood milestones. Her family had been providing for her complete and total care for all of her three years.

He was not complaining or asking for help, he was praising God for the three years they had together. Our local Christian radio station offers day sponsor spots as a fundraiser because they do not have advertising. For a fee, you are allowed to speak your own message and add music to it. The entire family took turns wishing her a happy birthday. When you hear a story like theirs, it can make your own problems seem rather trivial. It gives you a new appreciation for what you have.

Most people diagnosed with mitochondrial disease have some degeneration of their nervous system. One type of the disease includes congenital malformations of the brain. Once considered a childhood disease, adult onset is becoming more common.

Mitochondria are present in every cell, except red blood cells, in your body in specialized compartments. More than 90 percent of the energy needed by the body, to grow and support life, is created by the mitochondria. When the Mitochondria fail, as in mitochondrial disease, the energy generated begins diminishing until cell injury and cell death result. The cell failures spread throughout the body until whole systems begin failing.

Most damage seems to happen to cells of the brain, heart, liver, skeletal muscles, kidney, and the endocrine, and respiratory systems. Symptoms depend on the systems affected. They can include loss of motor control, muscle weakness and pain, gastro-intestinal disorders and swallowing difficulties, poor growth, liver disease, cardiac disease, respiratory complications, seizures, visual/hearing problems, diabetes, lactic acidosis, developmental delays, and susceptibility to infection.



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