Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / New
Stats: 3,143,236 members, 7,780,458 topics. Date: Thursday, 28 March 2024 at 02:49 PM

The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards - Health - Nairaland

Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Health / The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards (7383 Views)

The Curious Case Of A 12 Year Old Who Neither Feels Hunger Nor Thirst / U.S. Records First Case Of Ebola / First Black Child Diagnosed With Aging Disease (2) (3) (4)

(1) (Reply) (Go Down)

The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by merengue: 10:09pm On Nov 27, 2012
http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/real-benjamin-buttons-brothers-matthew-michael-clark-aging-193400085.html

By the looks of their home, Tony and Christine Clark are raising two rambunctious 7-year-old boys. Model train tracks and Monopoly pieces are scattered on tables and cartoons flicker on the TV set.

But the Clarks' two sons are grown men who share only the same interests and emotional fluctuations of little boys. Like the character portrayed by Brad Pitt in the 2008 film "The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons," Matthew, 39, and Michael, 42, are aging backwards.

Diagnosed with a terminal form of leukodystrophy, one of a group of extremely rare genetic disorders that attack the Myelin, or white matter, in the nervous system, spinal cord, and brain. In the Clarks' case, the condition has not only eroded their physical capacities, but their emotional and mental states as well.
Only six years ago, both brothers were holding down jobs and growing their families. Today, they spend their days in the care of their parents, both in their sixties, playing with Mr. Potato Head, fighting over Monopoly, and in rare lucid moments, struggling to understand why their lives have changed so dramatically.

Before the Clark Brothers were diagnosed, they were living independent lives. Michael served in the Royal Air Force and later became a cabinet maker. Matthew worked in a factory and was raising a teenage daughter. Tony and Christine, meanwhile, had retired and moved from the UK to Spain. Then in 2007, both of their sons fell off the radar. They stopped returning their parents' calls and texts, and as the Clark brothers' conditions developed, their lives fell apart.

Michael surfaced in a soup kitchen, and was referred to medical experts by social workers. After an MRI scan, he was diagnosed with the incurable degenerative disorder. Soon after Matthew received the same news. In the U.S. alone, about 1 in 40,000 children are born with a form of the neurodegenerative disease, according to Dr. William Kintner, President of the United Leukodystrophy Foundation. While some forms of the disorder are potentially treatable if discovered in the earliest stages and not all cause an emotional regression, the brothers are unlikely to be cured. "It's very difficult to do anything once progression has occurred," Dr. Kintner tells Yahoo! Shine.
[With their train set.(Courtesy of Channel4)] With their train set.(Courtesy of Channel4)

As of April, when the Clarks were first written about in the British press, their mental age was 10.

"We will be out walking and things which might interest a toddler interest them, the other day we were walking home when Michael saw a balloon and pointed it out to us," father Tony Clark, told The Telegraph last spring.

Today, the brothers are even younger mentally.

"Just like small children, they wake up a lot during the night," mom Christine said in an interview published in The Independent this week. "I was up seven times with them last night."

After learning of their diagnoses, Tony and Christine returned to the UK and moved in with their sons. Their daily struggles as a family have been chronicled in a British documentary, "The Curious Case of the Clark Brothers," airing Monday in the UK.

Earlier this year, Matthew became a grandfather, when his daughter had a son. But the news for the family was bittersweet, as the Clark brothers' mental age continued to creep backwards.

"There's no return to them being cute little boys," said Christine, who regularly manages their tantrums and fights over Monopoly. "They're big strong men—and that presents a quite different set of problems."

More recently, even their physical strength began deteriorating.

"A few weeks ago, they could still manage with a knife and fork, but now that's getting too difficult for them—they get the food onto their forks, but somehow it all falls off before it reaches their mouths," she said.

Donors and genetic disorders: how much do you know?

Now walking is the next hurdle; Matthew is already confined to a wheelchair.

"The likelihood that they're on a terminal course is fairly certain, but who knows?" says Dr. Kintner, who is familiar with the Clark case but didn't meet the brothers. "If they were citizens of U.S., we'd try to get them to the National Institute of Health for diagnostic work, but in the UK the system is different. There is no comparable organization with genetic diseases, so it's a little more difficult there."

Dr. Kintner estimates there are several million cases of one of the estimated 40 types of leukodystrophies in the U.S., but an exact number is hard to pinpoint. The different forms of the disorder are still being identified and tests for each known type are still being developed. "It's going to take a long time," says Dr. Kintner. "I hope in my lifetime I see a cure for some of them."
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by daylae(m): 11:15pm On Nov 27, 2012
wow! I argued with a friend about the chances of this happenning after i saw the movie. But is there a form of physical shrinking in the size of the sufferer like in the case of the movie,even to the size of a baby.
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by semid4lyfe(m): 9:53am On Nov 28, 2012
Weird. . .

Seen the movie but never thought it could happen in real life undecided

Here are their pics and video of them playing monopoly and throwing temper tantrums:






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxujSpaPdLw
video of brothers playing monopoly and throwing temper tantrums

Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by Nobody: 9:59am On Nov 28, 2012
Very wierd...omg.....whoah...
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by Dygeasy(m): 10:01am On Nov 28, 2012
Trust me, Nigeria is real Lucky! All this kinda things don't happen here... Why always them? Let's just have beautiful minds and great positive mentality, we are blessed in this part of the world!

1 Like

Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by Afam4eva(m): 10:01am On Nov 28, 2012
Na waoo
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by YOUNGKAHUNA: 10:03am On Nov 28, 2012
OMG..................This is wierd
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by chuksmad(m): 10:05am On Nov 28, 2012
na woooo
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by ARareGem(f): 10:06am On Nov 28, 2012
Weird.

Them probably don do them from that side.
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by bukatyne(f): 10:10am On Nov 28, 2012
Very Pathetic and sad
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by Nobody: 10:15am On Nov 28, 2012

8 Likes

Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by slap1(m): 10:26am On Nov 28, 2012
Thank God for Nigeria, no matter what.
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by abiki(f): 10:27am On Nov 28, 2012
omo_to_dun:
If it does, who will report it? They will be stoned to death in Nigeria after being accused of being emeres or witches. If they are lucky, they may be locked in some psychiatric ward. So many phenomenon occur in Nigeria, but the media does not pick up on it. I lived in Osogbo. I have seen crazier $hit.

You're so right.
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by maygah(f): 10:41am On Nov 28, 2012
I tot its was only a movie wen I watched the benamine ish cry too many genetic disorder and abnormalites. God help us
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by Nobody: 10:53am On Nov 28, 2012
Yep just like our dear nairaland. Instead of growing up, it is retarding at an alarming rate.
I remember in 2007 when my friend's dad introduced me to NL,it was a forum of intelligent hard working, mods.today, the benjamin case has taken over, if it is not tonto dike's eye lashes, it is my boy friend left me, or boobs or yansh which do u prefer.
Back to the topic, this stuff happens all the time. I have a family member who runs a clinic where people like these are taken care of.

3 Likes

Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by Nobody: 11:14am On Nov 28, 2012
Na so strange sickness dey catch this oyinbo's before dem go come transfer am to Africa.
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by clemmonce(m): 11:20am On Nov 28, 2012
ARES: Yep just like our dear nairaland. Instead of growing up, it is retarding at an alarming rate.
I remember in 2007 when my friend's dad introduced me to NL,it was a forum of intelligent hard working, mods.today, the benjamin case has taken over, if it is not tonto dike's eye lashes, it is my boy friend left me, or boobs or yansh which do u prefer.
Back to the topic, this stuff happens all the time. I have a family member who runs a clinic where people like these are taken care of.
bros i dont know you but your comment make sense. all you see on the front page is between this rubbish and that rubbish which do you prefer. no wonder dont get to 5 6 pages before fading away. nairaland is jus like nigeria no matter how many times u talk the leader wil not change because they dont knw if u exist the mods no send us at all. make new year come make they change mod jare. has anyone heard anything about the lagos state civil commission recruitment exercise .?and what we should expect. i don a raise topic about this stuff na back they throw am put

4 Likes

Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by stupor(m): 11:52am On Nov 28, 2012
Yeah watched that movie !

Very interesting and everything looked real.

I just hope this won't be like the môvie where they wOuld age backwards until they varnish intó thin air.

This life is getting so real by its secònd.

Lord have mercy.
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by Nobody: 12:02pm On Nov 28, 2012
Serious downloading d bratt pit movie ryt away. I think most of this Hollywood movies tell real stories in the now and future.
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by Orikinla(m): 12:44pm On Nov 28, 2012
We have more of them in Nigeria, but they don't know it and their families, and the government still think they are normal. grin
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by Orikinla(m): 12:45pm On Nov 28, 2012
clemmonce: bros i dont know you but your comment make sense. all you see on the front page is between this rubbish and that rubbish which do you prefer. no wonder dont get to 5 6 pages before fading away. nairaland is jus like nigeria no matter how many times u talk the leader wil not change because they dont knw if u exist the mods no send us at all. make new year come make they change mod jare. has anyone heard anything about the lagos state civil commission recruitment exercise .?and what we should expect. i don a raise topic about this stuff na back they throw am put
grin
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by eikeem(m): 12:53pm On Nov 28, 2012
ARES: Yep just like our dear nairaland. Instead of growing up, it is retarding at an alarming rate.
I remember in 2007 when my friend's dad introduced me to NL,it was a forum of intelligent hard working, mods.today, the benjamin case has taken over, if it is not tonto dike's eye lashes, it is my boy friend left me, or boobs or yansh which do u prefer.
Back to the topic, this stuff happens all the time. I have a family member who runs a clinic where people like these are taken care of.
And this is sooooo on point!
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by rhymz(m): 1:39pm On Nov 28, 2012
Wow this is realy sadening. However, the caption is a little misleading as what is happening to these two brothers is more of mental retrogression while the physical stage growth of their body remains as normal unlike in the movie where had the physical form of an aged man but still had the mental capabilities of his age. As he progressed in age, his physical form and mental abilities improved with it to the point of having a romantic side. These two brothers have some very serious and yes, Curious case of mental degeneration that is inoperable. Unfortunately, they can only get worse. This is realy sad. This is the point where I support euthanasian Laws to end this kind of intractable suffering. It might not be their decision to make, perhaps their parents. So sad. I hope their parents are able to console themselves with the fact that they are the best parents anyone can ever ask for. .e no easy
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by Nobody: 2:42pm On Nov 28, 2012
omo_to_dun:
If it does, who will report it? They will be stoned to death in Nigeria after being accused of being emeres or witches. If they are lucky, they may be locked in some psychiatric ward. So many phenomenon occur in Nigeria, but the media does not pick up on it. I lived in Osogbo. I have seen crazier $hit.
you can say that again bro
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by GeneralGaricks: 3:01pm On Nov 28, 2012
This is highly demonic and people are here talking jargon.

What would Jesus do if he came across these 2 men ? He would cure them. This is the devils handwork. These men would simply be termed ''Lunatics'' in Nigeria.
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by rhymz(m): 6:43pm On Nov 28, 2012
General Garicks: This is highly demonic and people are here talking jargon.

What would Jesus do if he came across these 2 men ? He would cure them. This is the devils handwork. These men would simply be termed ''Lunatics'' in Nigeria.
in a harsher sense, they are looneys. Now, does that make you happy?
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by kenny1795(m): 7:20pm On Nov 28, 2012
Beautiful!!! I wil luk into dx more. Wuld aid my research on gene manipulation ad how to stop d agein process
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by tlops(m): 9:41pm On Nov 28, 2012
kenny1795: Beautiful!!! I wil luk into dx more. Wuld aid my research on gene manipulation ad how to stop d agein process

have you heard of designer babies or eugenics!
Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by ezeuba(m): 10:49pm On Nov 28, 2012
General Garicks: This is highly demonic and people are here talking jargon.

What would Jesus do if he came across these 2 men ? He would cure them. This is the devils handwork. These men would simply be termed ''Lunatics'' in Nigeria.
Next thing you would ask them to come and see your pastor for deliverance, not so? Ignoramus...

1 Like

Re: The Curious Case Of The Clarks: Real Life Benjamin Buttons Aging Backwards by Ignatio(m): 10:32am On Nov 29, 2012
This is scary.

(1) (Reply)

10 Warning Signs Of Lung Cancer / Dermatologist Advice Needed Urgently / Revive Your male organ To Last Long In Bed permanently

(Go Up)

Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health
religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket

Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)

Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 43
Disclaimer: Every Nairaland member is solely responsible for anything that he/she posts or uploads on Nairaland.