A teenager suffers from a bizarre ‘growth spurt’ condition which means he can grow up to two inches in just two weeks.
Josh Gott’s condition is so rare that it doesn’t even have a name and his mother fears her giant son will only get bigger and bigger.
The 18-year-old is thought to be the only person in the world to suffer from a bizarre disease which causes dramatic and sudden spurts of growth.
Josh is currently 6ft 10in, despite his mother Sharon Elston being just 5ft and his father only 5ft 4in.
Ms Elston, 44, has spent years trying to find out what is wrong with her son.
She has now been told by scientists in Newcastle that Josh has a chromosomal disorder – but it’s so rare that little is known about it. There is no cure.
It causes Josh, of Stockton-on-Tees, to have rapid spurts of growth – which normally last around two weeks and can see his height rise by as much as two inches.
Ms Elston said: ‘It is a nightmare – I can’t get clothes to fit him. I’m having to look online and am thinking about ordering trousers from America.
‘I don’t know where it will stop. Josh is forever banging his head on door frames and has trouble going down the stairs.
‘People stare at us. We are an odd sight, as I am so short, and he is so tall. People don’t understand what is wrong.
‘He’s not going to stop growing. He once grew two inches in two weeks.’
She first noticed there was something wrong with Josh’s growth when he was about 11 years old.
She said: ‘He was just shooting up. I didn’t understand it. I went to the doctors dozens of times, but they told me it was just his age, and that it was normal.
‘But I knew different, instinct told me there was a problem. He was the tallest boy in his class, and me and his dad are both so short.’
After years of speaking to doctors, Josh’s case was finally referred to leading research scientists at Newcastle’s Centre for Life and a definitive diagnosis was delivered about 18 months ago.
Josh has a small deletion on one of his chromosomes which involves three genes.
One of these genes is the main antagonist (or threat) to the growth hormone.
It is different disorder from Gigantism, whose sufferers over produce the hormone.
In a letter written by Consultant Clinical Geneticist Doctor Miranda Splitt to Josh’s doctor she said: ‘There are a few other patients who are known to have a deletion of the three genes but all of them have a much larger deletion involving many more genes.
‘I have asked for more information about the patients with overlapping deletion to see whether any of them have very tall stature but have so far had not had any replies from the clinicians involved.’
Josh’s mother was told researchers had contacted colleagues across the world, but no-one else had seen a chromosome disorder that mirrors her son’s.
She said: ‘This new information means very little to Josh, but to me it means a lot.
‘I have always said, “there’s something else”, but now I would like it do him some good, I don’t want it just to be interesting research.’
Josh has also suffered from a number of other serious problems throughout his life, including brain damage, epilepsy, scoliosis (curvature of the spine), Perthes (a hip growth disorder), autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
But Ms Elston, who works transporting children with various mental and physical disabilities to school, says she always knew there was something undiagnosed which could be crucial for Josh’s welfare.
Around two-and-a-half years ago she refused to leave the University Hospital of North Tees until a doctor took the problem seriously.
She said: ‘I told the doctor my height, and Josh’s dad’s height, and I insisted that something was done. I said I would not leave unless it was. I was determined.’
It was then that the case was finally referred to the Centre for Life.
She added: ‘I just hope something can be done to stop him from growing. I dread him getting taller.’
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