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