Lorenzo's Oil Essay

Recently in class we have watched the movie Lorenzo’s Oil. The movie’s plot revolves around a young man named Lorenzo Micheal Murphy Odone who at the age of five was diagnosed with a terminal illness known as ALD or Adrenoleukodystrophy. The adrenoleukodystrophy protein (ALDP) helps your body break down very long chain fatty acids
(VLCFAs). If the protein doesn’t do its job, the fatty acids build up inside your body. This can harm the outer layer of cells, known as myelin, in your: spinal cord, brain, adrenal glands, and testes. People with ALD have mutations in the gene that makes ALDP. Their bodies don’t make enough ALDP. Victims were only expected to live two years after being diagnosed while exeprincing very severe symptoms. Including muscle

Finally, entering a vegetative state in their last months. However, before Lorenzo contracted this very severe disease he was a very vibrant and intelligent boy. He speaks three languages, had many friends, and lived in south Africa for 6 months. In contrast during his time after diagnosis Lorenzo entered a nearly vegetative state, but he continued to fight until his Father, Augusto Daniel Odone, discovered the cure for his son’s ailment. Augusto Odone is Lorenzo’s father and a member of the world bank although he did give up on Lorenzo for a while he persevered and beat the odds were stacked against them by time, money, and a lack of research, so that he and his wife, Michaela Teresa Murphy Odone, could cure their son. The final major character of Lorenzo’s oil is Michaela Odone. She pushed the hardest for the cure to ALD. In the movie, she shows much compassion to Lorenzo by refusing to treat like a “vegetable” and still acting as if were capable to move as normal.
These are the main characters of the movie. The movie has multiple settings, but all of them are either hospitals, research facilities or the Odone home