Bahrain Tribune - 15th April 06

Stricken with a rare debilitating disease, Bahraini Hassan Fadhel is embarking on a campaign to draw international attention to the disease. The 23-year old has been fighting for decades to live a normal life. Hassan suffers from idiopathic hypoparathyroidism – a condition caused by lack of parathyroid hormone – which has made him depend on treatment and intravenous injections since he was five. The disease causes weakness of the body, attacks vital organs, causes painful spasms, difficulty in breathing and aches around the body.

“The world should know about this rare disease and fight it and help people,” Hassan said. On Monday, Hassan will be leaving for Maryland, US, to take part in a conference on the disease. He is one among a few hundred around the world suffering from the disease. Hassan left school years earlier because of his condition although he struggled to live like a normal student. “I had to take calcium intravenously until the calcium level was stabilised, and only then I could get out and start my normal activities. Despite the disease I continued my studies and achieved excellent grades. I also continued to play sports, especially football. “My condition deteriorated when I was 19. I was hospitalised for about four months, – the worst four months in my life. The ghost of death was always near me when I was in bed,” he said. Hassan, with the support of the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society, leads a movement to launch a society on hormone deficiencies in Bahrain.

In January, he became one of four people outside the US. to receive a test treatment. Hassan’s treatment is administered through the Joslin Diabetes Centre. with the support of the Ministry of Health. The drug costs about BD6,000 a month. Hassan has been in touch with Hypoparathyroidism Association, Inc. in the US. The association is waiting for his trip to the US and has endorsed his initiative to set up a similar society in Bahrain .Hassan’s health has improved since he took the treatment test in January. “Now I am looking for the future and starting over from the scratch. This therapy is not the last but the beginning of other things to come. My ambition doesn’t stop at getting the medicine and solving my case. I want to set up a society for the hypoparathyroidism patients covering Bahrain and nearby countries.”