It effects 1 in 130 people in the UK and now epilepsy has claimed it's next victim, a celebrity in the making, a young lad with a talentless mother and a thick father who probably can't even spell the word! Romeo Beckham has epilepsy and News Of The World journalists had a field day last Sunday turning the story into a front page exclusive with four more pages focusing on this 'life threatening' illness.
'FLASH CAN KILL HIM' was the headline we woke up to last Sunday morning. Hang on, that isn't strictly true. Flash photography can well indeed kick off a spazzy attack, but kill? This barbaric quote could have put the more shivers in epileptics than they already have to live with! The paper which has probably snapped the little fella the most are asking other photographers to avoid using flash photography with Romeo, which is fair enough, but to make this symptom sound like a killer is stretching the truth bit. Although epilepsy can lead to death it does so in extreme and fairly rare occasions.
The whole Romeo fiasco kicked off a few weeks ago at Heathrow Airport where the family had enjoyed yet another holiday. Once through the customs the press started taking numerous photos and after young Romeo shielded his eyes, lashed out at them. Posh grabbed her son and shouted, "Leave him alone. He's got epilepsy. All that flashing will start an epileptic fit. You can't do that!" gaining more publicity for her and the Beckham family.
Kevin
Smith works at 'Splash News' a company which takes pics and sells them
to the tabloids, he said,
"Now that we know Romeo has epilepsy I will not be authorizing any
of my photographers to take flash pictures of him. I think this is absolutely
the right thing to do and I hope other agencies follow suit."
Romeo's condition was only diagnosed after he finished a series of four hospital visits over the course of three years when suffered spasmodic fits. Although at first, there was little concern because of his young age the behavior wasn't unnatural Once Romeo was diagnosed as having epilepsy the Beckham told their friends and family. For once in her life Victoria didn't inform the press, probably because she didn't have a book to publicize at the time!
A friend
of Posh and Becks have expressed their concern for the family since Romeo
was diagnosed with the condition. They said,
"They are devastated — worried sick about Romeo. He is on medication to control the seizures but obviously things like flashing lights can trigger one at any time. They can only hope the medication limits the number of fits he suffers to a minimum and he can enjoy as normal a life as possible. Epilepsy affects a great number of people and many grow out of it. They are just praying Romeo gets better."
Posh is taking comfort with her friend and another epileptic, Elton John.
Epileptics can suffer short black outs during a seizure, but in severe cases they can loose conscious for a few minutes. In most cases though medication which may have to be taken for the rest of their lives can control their condition, but in chronic cases a serve fit could affect them terminally even death. Six out of ten cases for epilepsy can be traced back to head injury's which occur at birth.
Victoria's new book, which title we can't be arsed to print came on sale just weeks after she told the papers about Romeo's condition. Amazing timing, don't you think?
