Gene-therapy hope for East Lancashire woman with rare growth syndrome

12:00pm Monday 18th February 2013 in News By Jessica Cree, Ribble Valley reporter

Mandy Sellars hopes gene therapy will help shrink her legs

A WOMAN battling a rare condition in which she has 17-stone legs is hoping a new gene therapy will reverse the growth.

Mandy Sellars has a condition similar to Proteus Syndrome, the same condition that affected Elephant Man Joseph Merrick, which causes skin overgrowth and and abnormal bone development.

But the 38-year-old, who is originally from Bacup and now lives in Huncoat, is undergoing revolutionary gene therapy in Cambridge which she hopes will stop her legs from growing and even cause them to shrink back to a normal size.

She is to appear on a Channel 5 programme tonight which will document her progress and investigate the new treatment.

Mandy, who lives in Bolton Avenue, said: I have been doing quite well since the doctor found the gene therapy and I started taking some medication that they think will work.

I am a bit like a guinea pig and we want to see if the medication may help other people.

I never thought it would happen in my lifetime so it is fantastic news.

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Gene-therapy hope for East Lancashire woman with rare growth syndrome

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