The family of a young mother whose body is gradually shutting down have launched a desperate search for answers.
Single mother Babs Mason, 35, from Manchester, has tragically lost the ability to walk or talk and can no longer care for her four-year-old son Lawrence due to a rare disease.
Her parents have launched an appeal to fund treatment overseas for Babs and release her from the ‘living hell’ in which she is trapped. So far, they have raised £9,511 or their £26,000 target.
Babs is understood to be one of only four people in the UK who suffer with neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation (NBIA).
Single mother Babs Mason, 35, from Manchester, has tragically lost the ability to walk or talk, and can no longer care for her four-year-old son Lawrence due to a rare disease (pictured)
Babs had Lawrence in 2014, and did not feel any pain from her C-section, due to her condition, which was undiagnosed at the time (pictured after Lawrence’s birth)
Babs and Lawrence when he was younger. The single-mother suffers from Neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation (NBIA), a rare, incurable genetic condition, which causes progressive degeneration of the nervous system
Her mother, Barbara, 57, said: ‘Little by little, we are losing her. She can’t be a mother to her son. She cries to herself and it breaks my heart. She is trapped alone, in a dark world.
‘Lawrence is only four-years-old but he understands that his mother needs help. He brings her socks and shoes and he presses her alarm if she falls.
‘My daughter is still in there, somewhere. Lawrence’s cuddles and smiles keep her alive.
‘We are pleading for help to fund treatment to wake her up again.’
The single mother, a former teaching assistant, showing symptoms at the age of 29, when the pupils in her class noticed that she was shaking (pictured with Lawrence on a family occasion)
Babs, a former teaching assistant, started showing symptoms at the age of 29, when the pupils in her class noticed that she was shaking.
Her younger sister, Katie, also noticed that she was moving very slowly – but at first made a joke out of it.
Barbara sid: ‘One of the children in her class asked why she was always shaking. We didn’t think it was serious. We just thought she was a slow-coach at first.’
Babs’ son, Lawrence, was born in June 2015.
Barbara, a cook supervisor, says: ‘Babs had a Caesarean delivery and straight afterwards, she just got out of bed. The nurses were going mad.
Babs was diagnosed with NBIA two years before the birth of her son. It took two years of test to determine an accumulation of iron on her brain (pictured when Lawrence was an infant)
Following her diagnosis Babs was prescribed medication, which was of little help and her condition continued to deteriorate (pictured with Lawrence as a baby)
‘She didn’t feel any pain at all – it is part of her condition – but at the time, we didn’t realise that. We thought she was maybe in shock from the birth.’
Two years of tests showed an accumulation of iron on her brain. The rare genetic condition affects only three other people in the UK.
Babs was prescribed medication, which was of little help and her condition continued to deteriorate.
Barbara says: ‘We were left in limbo.
Pictured: Bruising on Babs arms that are caused by her condition) Only three other people in the UK suffer from the extremely rare disease
Little by little, Babs lost mobility, to the point where she cannot talk or walk anymore (pictured: bruising on Babs’ knees)
The most difficult aspect of her condition for Babs was that she could not longer pick up Lawrence for a cuddle, due to the fact she might fall due to NBIA and drop him (pictured with him at a pool resort)
‘The worst part for Babs was she couldn’t trust herself to pick Lawrence up, in case she fell again.
‘It was horrible – she was his mother, yet couldn’t look after him,’ Barbara said.
‘After that, she started to become very clumsy, falling over more and more.’
Barbara said Lawrence (pictured) understood his mother needed help and brought her socks and shoes and pressed her alarm if she fell
Babs (pictured with Lawrence) gave up her job and became too anxious to leave her home, because strangers accused her of being drunk
Babs gave up her job and became too anxious to leave her home, because strangers accused her of being drunk.
She now needs 24 hours care. Her parents, who both work full time, are helping to raise her young son and have launched an appeal to pay for private treatment in Moscow.
Barbara says: ‘We don’t know what is around the corner. It is heart breaking for Babs and for all of us. I worry so much about her.
‘The doctors have done their best but they have never seen anyone like Babs and so they can’t help her.
‘We don’t know what the future holds. We are just desperate for some answers, and we will go the other end of the world if we have to.’
Friends and family have thrown themselves into fundraising, including Martin Green from the charity ‘RiffRaff Society’, who is doing a backwards Marathon on his hands and knees.
Babs pictured when she was pregnant with her son Lawrence. Desperate Barbara said she knew his daughter was still in her body, unable to communicate with the world