A MELKSHAM mother organised a ‘makaton flash mob’ last week to promote awareness of mitochondrial disease – a disease that her 18-month old son is being tested for.
To coincide with Global Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week, over 50 people joined Samantha Mosley and her family in front of the Town Hall, which was lit up green in support, to sign and sing the song ‘A Million Dreams’ from the blockbuster film, ‘The Greatest Showman’.
Samantha’s son, Laani, is currently undergoing tests for the genetic disease, which can cause physical, developmental, and cognitive disabilities. He communicates using makaton – a language that uses symbols, signs and speech to enable people to communicate – which he began to learn around the age of seven months old.
Speaking to Melksham News at the event, Samantha said, “The makaton signing was amazing, just brilliant. It’s amazing that the community came together to raise awareness of this disease, and that they are interested in learning makaton – it would be nice to see makaton more widely used in the community.
“I really hope that this creates some awareness about mitochondrial disease. Laani – who also has chromosome deletion and various other medical issues – is currently being tested for this disease, and it can be quite an invasive process as it is quite hard to diagnose.
“What we know about mitochondrial disease is that it is progressive, so he could develop normally at first and then lose his speech as he gets older – so I figured that learning makaton means that he’s already equipped with a way to communicate if he does lose his speech.”
For more information about mitochondrial disease, visit: http://mito chondrialdisease.nhs.uk/ patient-area/what-mitochondrial-disease/
