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The parents of an apparently happy baby who "laughed" 17 hours a day were shocked to discover that he actually had a rare brain tumor.
When Little Jack Young, of Winscombe, in North Somerset, started giggling two weeks after his birth, parents Gemma and Ed just thought he was an exceptionally happy baby.
PA Real Life
PA Real Life
But it turned out that the incessant giggles were actually fits of "laughter" caused by a hypothalamic hamartoma, a benign tumor of the brain.
"There was no break, the deaf laughter was constant and for a long time we did not know why," said Mom's mom, 32.
After two years of shrapnel, which began from dawn to dusk, Jack had 10 hours to suppress growth.
And just like that, the strange crises have stopped.
PA Real Life
PA Real Life
What is gelastic epilepsy?
"Gelastic" comes from the Greek word Gelastikos, which means to laugh. Gelastic epilepsy is a type of illness that sees people suffering from uncontrollable laughter.
It is very rare, but it is more common among boys than girls and affects about one in 1,000 children.
According to Epilepsy Action, the most common cause of agelastic epilepsy is a small tumor of the hypothalamus – which little Jack had.
sYMPTOMS
- laughter that is described more as "hollow" or "empty"
- laughing for no apparent reason, sudden start and stop
- eyes and head moving on one side or the other
- automatisms like snapping lips, moving, mumbling
- premature puberty – usually less than 10 years
Doctors have explained how rare epileptic seizures normally occur in 1 in 1000 children with epileptic seizures and involve sudden energy surges – usually in the form of tears or laughter.
After Jack's birth in May 2014, he began to laugh even in his sleep, with explosions from 30 minutes to 17 hours without interruption.
"To be honest, we just thought that he was so happy all the time," Gemma said.
"It was a little laugh, but it seemed to get longer, like a rehearsal record.
PA Real Life
PA Real Life
"At first I was just a new mom who was trying to start a new routine, but after two months things were getting too difficult and we had to get Jack off to sleep at the end because he also held his brother. It was tiring. "
It was only during Jack's six-week check-up that a health visitor told Gemma that she was worried about the sound of Jack giggling.
"I felt horrible that another woman noticed it in my baby and, as a mother, it should have been me who realized it," Gemma continued.
She immediately took Jack to see the GP who directed him to an ear, nose and throat specialist.
PA Real Life
"At that time, none of us slept at all and I was begging doctors to do something," Gemma said.
"The sound was unforgiving and so unpredictable. It was hard to fall asleep because I did not know when the noise was going to happen again. "
But even the specialist did not really know what was going on – and so referred the family to a neurologist at the Royal Royal Hospital for Children in Bristol.
"Even a hospital nurse thought he was laughing and was upset when she realized that his" laughter "was the reason we were consulting doctors," Gemma said.
PA Real Life
PA Real Life
"People were telling us, 'Is not he a happy boy? And it was a very happy little boy, but his laugh was not a laugh, it was something else. I had no idea what could go wrong for Jack, but I was terrified at the thought that it never stops.
Finally, after Jack had an MRI, his family was diagnosed.
"The doctor said that he was suffering from a hypothalamic hamartoma, which means that he had a benign brain tumor the size of a grape at the base of his brain, which causes gelastic seizures (gelastic meaning "laughter" in Greek).
"It was a huge relief to know what was wrong with him, but so heart-rending at the same time to think that he had gone through all that.
"All of his other areas of development were so incredible, like his speech and his understanding, but he was laughing all the time," Gemma said.
PA Real Life
"It did not stop him from eating solid foods at six weeks or walking a year. In fact, strangely, he could walk and laugh at the same time.
"He spent his day as usual, but had laughter too."
Since the operation, Jack, who is now four years old, has not had a single fit of laughter.
Although his parents admit that they can always be nervous when he laughs naturally – as he often does when joking in cartoons on TV – they are so grateful that he can lead a normal life.
"The day after the operation, we realized that Jack had not laughed once, which was a strange feeling," Gemma said. "We were sitting waiting to do it, but he did not do it. But when we heard it laughing properly for the first time, it was amazing.
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Gemma added, "This is a little boy so happy now and a real success.
"It's a boy so cheeky, with a great sense of humor, who comes out with one-liners that make us all laugh.
"The hypothalamic hamartoma is so rare and I want other parents to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that things get better. This operation changed Jack's life, and ours, and we are very grateful. "
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