A prince of Luxembourg has died at 22 of a genetic illness for which he spent his transient life elevating consciousness.
Prince Frederik, the second cousin of the inheritor to the Luxembourg throne, found at age 14 that he had a mutation in his POLG gene, which is concerned within the replication and restore of DNA. He died on March 1 in Paris, his father, Prince Robert, said in a statement by the POLG Basis.
Estimates differ, however roughly one in 10,000 folks are thought to have POLG, or polymerase gamma, illness, in accordance with the United Mitochondrial Illness Basis. It’s a mitochondrial disorder, a gaggle of situations that have an effect on how mitochondria in cells produce vitality. POLG illness impacts a number of organs and might result in seizures and poor coordination, amongst different signs.
“One may evaluate it to having a defective battery that by no means totally recharges, is in a continuing state of depletion and finally loses energy,” Prince Robert mentioned.
POLG deficiency is a very brutal kind of mitochondrial illness, in accordance with Sir Doug Turnbull, an emeritus professor of neurology at Newcastle College and a member of the POLG Basis’s scientific advisory board. “It’s so relentlessly progressive,” he mentioned, “attacking so many various programs with sadly the identical conclusion.”
Prince Frederik was a founder and the artistic director of the POLG Basis. The group used his DNA for analysis, initiated research and made a short film in regards to the illness. Frederick additionally designed a clothes line to boost cash for analysis.
Frederik was born in Aix-en-Provence, France, and grew up in Switzerland. He was a fan of the American tv present “The Workplace,” his father mentioned, and had seen the total collection 10 instances.
In his final days, Frederik was within the hospital with pneumonia and one other critical an infection that left him unable to maneuver, however he may nonetheless look out the window, Prince Robert mentioned.
“Via the small, mesh-covered window, he noticed the Eiffel Tower glistening with its hourly dance of lights,” his father mentioned. Frederik requested his brother, Alexander, to take {a photograph} of the setting solar.
Frederik was a second cousin of Prince Guillaume, who shall be taking up the throne of Luxembourg when his father, Grand Duke Henri, retires in October. Frederik and Guillaume share great-grandparents: Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, who reigned from 1919 to 1964, and her husband, Prince Félix.
“Once you’re a child, you’ve gotten all these desires, all these aspirations,” Frederik mentioned within the movie produced by his basis. “I’m unsure I understood all the implications of POLG after I first obtained recognized. It’s extra refined, the place slowly the world is getting smaller and smaller.”
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