Milledgeville Family Struggles With Rare and Fatal Disease

MILLEDGEVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – 16 month old Riley Robbins has Niemann-Pick Type A. It’s severe neurological disease that leads to death between the ages of two and four. There’s no cure for the disease. Right now, there’s only four other known cases of Type A in the U.S.

“The disease took the ability of him saying ‘mama and dada’ away. He can’t even talk,” says mom Lori Robbins.

She’s watching her son quickly deteriorate. There’s less than 1200 cases worldwide. It’s so rare, that data surrounding how many people are carriers is unknown. In order for a baby to have the disease, both parents need to be carriers.