Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1961-06-30
One Helped. One
Too Lofe For Help
BY MARY CAMPBELL
Alp Newsfeatures Writer

M NeWSfeatureS writer
Two little blonde sisters named
McGrath-Sheila, 6 and Kammy 4
are living symbols of heartbreak
and hope.
Sheila is mentally retarded. KAN
my is alert and normal. Yet both
girls have the same metabolic dis
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES (PKU) VIII
ich causes retardation. but for
which there now is a 10 cent test,
and a preventive cure.
Sheila and kammy will be poster
children next November for Nation
al Retarded Children's Week.
"PKU is rare. only one in 10000
babies has it," says DR.. Joseph
Wortis. director of the Solomon
Retardation Clinic at Brooklyn Jew
ish Hospital.
f'But it's very easy to detect and
/ recommend that the test be done. a."
A lactose-free synthetic diet, Civ
en- from the first month to baby
who tests PKU positive, will pre-
vent retardation.
Sheila McGrath was diagnosed
having PKU when she was a year
old. but the new diet didn't become
available until she was Is months
BY that time, she could not see
sit or walk. After two weeks on
the diet she could sit up and see.
She soon began walking. But the
diet could not offset the damage
that had already occurred to her
brain.
Now Sheila lives in a Colorado
state training school and visits her
family on weekends. Sheila's 10 is
under so. She can be trained in
self-care but not educated.
Her sister Kammy lives at home
in Denver with three other sisters,
10. 3. and 1. Her mother is an ex-
airline stewardess and her father
an electrical engineer. Kammy at
tends nursery school. She has been
on the synthetic diet since she test
ted positive for PKU shortly after
birth.
Though chances of having a baby
with PKU are rare, the National
Assn. for Retarded Children says
the chance of a family producing a
second PKU child is one in four,
the retarded in institutions are be-
ing tested. Whenever a PKU vic
tim Is found. the other children in
the family especially infants are
tested.
The baby must be three weeks
old for the test to be effective. The
test consists of chemically coated
test strip. which costs about 10
cents. placed in contact with the
baby's wet diaper.
DIR. Wortis says most pediatri-
clans aren't giving the test because
PKU is so rare. but they will give
II he says il parents ask for ii.
Child health clinics in California.
Missouri. Washington. and New
York City are giving the test to
all babies brought in.
The PKU test was the first break
through in the prevention of re-
tardation resulting rom Unborn
causes of metabolism." DIR. Wortis
says galactosuria. in which one OF
the sugars in milk can't be used
by the child's body. also can be
discovered by a simple test and
prevented by special diet
The doctor says galactosuria.
however. is even more rare than
PKU.
But retardation-which also can
be caused by disorders during pre-
gnancy. at birth or during child
hoods not rare. 1t is four times
as common as rheumatic heart, 8
times more prevalent than cerebral
palsy, affects Is times more people
than blindness.
Researchers are working to find
more of the causes and preventions
of retardation. The Kammy Nc
Grath they can save make it vitality
important.