In 1951 a two year old infant Sheila Jones was diagnosed at Birmingham Children's Hospital (BCH) with a rare condition Phenylketonuria (PKU). There was no treatment but, not accepting this, her distraught mother Mary persevered until she found help from three pioneering doctors at BCH: Dr Horst Bickel, Dr John Gerrard and Dr Evelyn Hickmans. In the hospital laboratory they worked tirelessly to prepare a special formula and Sheila was the first person in the world to receive dietary treatment for PKU. Until now, little has been known about the life of Sheila, and her family in Birmingham, and the hardships and sacrifices they endured. It is a remarkable story of a brave little girl, her brothers, and her courageous and tenacious mother. Sheila's contribution is immense; it led to the introduction of newborn screening and worldwide treatment for PKU. It is a great sadness that Sheila herself was unable to benefit long term but her legacy is a triumph for all those with PKU. This is Sheila's story until her death in Birmingham in 1999 and will be important to people with PKU, their families, health professionals and readers interested in the history of medicine.
...MoreReview Douglas J. Lanska (2021) Review of "Sheila: Unlocking the Treatment for PKU". Journal of the History of the Neurosciences (pp. 332-334).
Similar Citations
Book
Patrizia Cincinnati;
(2023)
Note sulla storia della pediatria in Italia dall'unità al secondo dopoguerra
(/isis/citation/CBB960123901/)
Book
Stern, Alexandra;
Markel, Howard;
(2002)
Formative Years: Children's Health in the United States, 1880-2000
(/isis/citation/CBB000201631/)
Article
Kottek, Samuel;
(2002)
La protection de l'enfance dans la Hausväterliteratur
(/isis/citation/CBB000932408/)
Article
Stoffregen, Malte H.;
(2001)
Zwei frühe Fallbeschreibungen des adrenogenitalen Syndroms
(/isis/citation/CBB000100349/)
Book
Paul, Diane B.;
Brosco, Jeffrey P.;
(2013)
The PKU Paradox: A Short History of a Genetic Disease
(/isis/citation/CBB001213162/)
Book
Susan Bewley;
Bewley, Beulah;
(2016)
Beulah Bewley: My Life as a Woman and Doctor
(/isis/citation/CBB159066174/)
Chapter
Rohrer, Robin L.;
(2009)
Visiting Children with Cancer: The Parental Experience of the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, 1995--2005
(/isis/citation/CBB001031538/)
Article
Kushner, Howard I.;
Turner, Christena L.;
Bastian, John F.;
Burns, Jane C.;
(2004)
The Narratives of Kawasaki Disease
(/isis/citation/CBB000630225/)
Thesis
Howell, Joel D.;
(1987)
Machines' meanings: British and American use of medical technology, 1890-1930
(/isis/citation/CBB001565271/)
Article
Santacruz, María González;
Gil, Enrique Perdiguero;
(2019)
La consolidación de los derivados de la leche de vaca en la alimentación del lactante en España (1939-1959)
(/isis/citation/CBB113462189/)
Chapter
Michelle Pentecost;
(2021)
Transitioning Societies: Non-Communicable Disease and ‘the First 1000 Days’ in South Africa
(/isis/citation/CBB622609048/)
Article
Wolf, Jacqueline H.;
(1998)
“Don't kill your baby”: Feeding infants in Chicago, 1903-1924
(/isis/citation/CBB000079406/)
Article
Welshman, John;
(1997)
School meals and milk in England and Wales, 1906-45
(/isis/citation/CBB000075594/)
Thesis
Berney, Adrienne W.;
(1998)
Reforming the maternal breast: Infant feeding in American culture, 1870-1920
(/isis/citation/CBB001566148/)
Thesis
Wolf, Jacqueline H.;
(1998)
Discarding nature's plan: A social history of infant feeding in Chicago, 1892-1938
(/isis/citation/CBB001566224/)
Thesis
Williams, Martha Weidner;
(1988)
Infant nutrition and economic growth in Western Europe from the Middle Ages to the modern period
(/isis/citation/CBB001564823/)
Book
Haggerty, Robert J.;
Lovejoy, Frederick H., Sr.;
(2007)
Charles A. Janeway: Pediatrician to the World's Children
(/isis/citation/CBB000772374/)
Article
Wilson, Kumanan;
Barakat, Meredith;
Vohra, Sunita;
Ritvo, Paul;
Boon, Heather;
(2008)
Parental Views on Pediatric Vaccination: The Impact of Competing Advocacy Coalitions
(/isis/citation/CBB000831220/)
Article
Evan, Bonnie;
(2013)
How Autism Became Autism: The Radical Transformation of a Central Concept of Child Development in Britain
(/isis/citation/CBB001320315/)
Article
Rous, Elizabeth;
Clark, Andrew;
(2009)
Child Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in the UK National Health Service: An Historical Analysis
(/isis/citation/CBB000932529/)
Be the first to comment!