A baby who laughed 17 hours a day actually had a rare brain tumor that made him laugh

A little boy who laughed uncontrollably had a rare brain tumor, causing fits of laughter up to 17 hours a day.

Jack Young's parents, Gemma and Ed, of Winscombe, North Somerset, thought their baby was really happy.

But when the incessant laughter became too important to keep the family awake at night, the doctors revealed that the explosions were triggered by a benign brain tumor called hypothalamic hamartoma.

This caused "gelatinous" epileptic seizures – still called "laughing fits". Rare tumors are thought to affect one in 200,000 people.

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Two years after the beginning of the explosions, which could last from the first hour of the morning to the last hour of the night, Jack, who is now four years old, underwent a 10 hours operation to suppress the growth and the strange crises were stopped .

32-year-old Ms. Young, relieved by Jack's mother, said, "There is no pause, laughter smiles, is constant and for a long time we did not know why.

"We were exhausted and so happy when, after two long years, the doctors were finally able to operate on Jack and put an end to his convulsions."

Mr. Young, 42, and Ms. Young assumed that their son, Jack, was happy when he started making chuckling sounds two weeks after he was born on May 11, 2014.

Ms. Young said that laughter – which sometimes involved 30-minute breaks but could run continuously for 17 hours – did not even wake her up at night.

It soon became a "loop disc".

"It was a little laugh but it seemed to go on and on," said Ms. Young, who works at Thatchers Cider with her husband.

"At first I was just a new mom who was trying to embark on a new routine, but after two months things were getting too difficult and we had to move Jack downstairs to sleep at the end because he also held his brother awake. was exhausting.

Then, at Jack's six-week check-up, a health visitor told Ms. Young that she had never heard Jack's laughs and was worried.

"I felt horrible that another woman noticed it in my baby and it's my mother who should have realized it," said Ms. Young, who has a nine-year-old son from an earlier relationship.

She immediately took Jack to see the general practitioner, who was puzzled and referred the baby to an ear, nose and throat specialist (ENT).

"At that time, none of us slept at all and I was begging doctors to do something," said Ms. Young. "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 ENT team was left shaking his head and referred the family to a neurologist at the Royal Royal Hospital for Children in Bristol.

To date, six months had passed. The family was broken and frightened by what was wrong with their little boy.

"Even a hospital nurse thought that he was laughing and was shocked when she realized that her" laughter "was the reason we were consulting doctors," Ms. Young said.

"People would say to us," Is not he a happy boy? "And he was a really happy little boy, but his laugh was not a laugh, it was something else. thing.

"I had no idea what could happen with Jack, but I was terrified at the thought that it never stopped."

Finally, after Jack had an MRI, his family was diagnosed in November 2014.

Jack had a hypothalamic hamartoma, which means that he had a benign brain tumor the size of a grape at the base of his brain.

The condition, which is difficult to diagnose, causes convulsions, behavioral problems, memory loss and memory loss.

"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."

Mr. and Mrs. Young, who met at work six years ago, learned that Jack would need a major operation to remove the tumor, but that his laughter would definitely be over.

But while the family waited for her surgery, the uncontrollable laughter did not falter.

"All of his other areas of development were so amazing, like his speech and understanding, but he was laughing all the time," said Ms. Young.

"That did not stop him from eating solid foods at six weeks or walking at one year old. In fact, strangely, he could walk and laugh at the same time.

He will spend his day as usual, but he will laugh too.

Then, two years after the start of laughter on June 16, 2016, Jack was successfully operated on to remove the tumor at the Royal Royal Children's Hospital in Bristol.

"Seeing Jack leave for the operation was the worst day of my life," said his mother.

"I had to sign a consent form to perform the procedure and I did not know how I did it, my hand was shaking so much."

Since the operation, Jack, now four years old, has not had a single fit of laughter.

"The day after the operation, we realized that Jack had not laughed once, which was a strange feeling," Ms. Young said.

"We were sitting waiting for him to do it, but he did not do it. But when we heard it laughing properly for the first time, it was amazing.

Jack's parents admit that they are always nervous when he laughs naturally, but are grateful that he leads a normal life.

Now a happy, healthy little boy, no one would know that Jack had always had a problem.

Ms. Young added, "It's such a happy little boy and a real success.

"It's a boy so cheeky, with a great sense of humor, who comes out with 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 has changed Jack's life and ours, and we are very grateful.