This disease, often found in deer, rabbits and small rodents, is treatable if detected early. From what my mother explained to me, the boy had been in a lot of pain for several weeks but he never told his mother, for fear of making her worry. His parents were unaware of his illness until he was found unconscious in his bedroom and taken to hospital. Even after he was admitted to hospital, doctors couldn't find out what was wrong with him, only that he was suffering immense pain and suffering. He was in a coma for a week when the final lab results came back, but by then it was already too late. The treatment was still experimental in 1999, however his parents decided to proceed with the treatment in the hope of saving their son's life. One day, a friend of my mother saw her son having a seizure and his vital signs dropped, the doctors were able to stabilize him and bring him back. She explained to my mother that until then she hadn't realized how much pain her son was in and that at the advanced stage of the disease, it would take a miracle for him to survive. Both she and her husband decided to withdraw life support and let their son die, explaining that it was selfish of them to subject their son to so much pain if he didn't wake up. They chose to grieve and mourn their son's death rather than