Lorenzo Odone Dies at 30

THE MAN whose true life story the movie Lorenzo's Oil was based on died today in his Virginia home.Lorenzo Odone's battle with the rare adrenoleukodystrophy, or ALD, a genetic disease, died one day after his 30th birthday - 20 years longer than doctors expected him to live.He died of pneumonia after getting food stuck in his lungs.ALD causes a genetic mutations that breaks down the neurological system and damages the material that coats the nerve fibres in the brain.

The 1992 film starred Susan Sarandon and Nick Nolte as Lorenzo's parents, it told of their work to formulate an oil which prolonged their son's life even though neither were involved in medical research.Sarandon earned an Academy Award nomination for her performance.In 2005 a study was published showing that the oil patented by Lorenzo's father, Augusto Odone, can prevent the symptoms of ALD for most boys with the disease.

Lorenzo Odone, who doctors had predicted would die in childhood, died one day after his 30th birthday, said his father, Augusto Odone.He plans to take his son's ashes to New York to mix them with those of his wife, who died in 2000. Then, Odone said, he will sell his home in Fairfax, Va., and move back to his native Italy.Odone also plans to write a book memorializing his son, "to tell the story of Lorenzo as a way to make him live on."