King family still fighting

By Tiffiny Woo

Published: October 2, 2008

Jimmy King remembers the day his youngest son, Andrew, asked him why they keep fighting for a cure.
The answer is simple.
“It’s the only thing we can do for Lee,” said Jimmy’s wife Melisa during a recent interview with The Tribune.

When 6-year-old Lee King was diagnosed with Niemann-Pick Disease, Type C in December of 1997, the King’s waited on a miracle. Eleven years later, they live out that miracle every day that their son is alive.

Niemann-Pick is a rare genetic disease usually affecting children. A person diagnosed with this disease lacks the enzyme that breaks down cholesterol. As cholesterol collects in areas of his body such as the spleen and brain, Lee has slowly lost control of his muscles. 

The doctors say Lee should be dead. Children who are diagnosed so early usually don’t live past age 11 or 12.
Lee is 17 years old.

Read more in this weekend’s edition of The Eufaula Tribune.