A mother has revealed the heartbreak of watching her two-year-old die of 'childhood dementia'.
Vicky Cunningham, 34, of West Lothian, Scotland, said her baby, Mirryn, was happy and healthy, despite being born premature.
But at 10 months old, Ms Cunningham instinctively knew something wasn't right when Mirryn stopped trying to hold her hand or rock in her baby bouncer.
After insisting doctors investigated, Ms Cunningham was shocked to be told that her daughter's brain was dying.
At the age of one, Mirryn was given a diagnosis of the rare Batten disease – otherwise known as childhood dementia – which is incurable.
The specific type of the condition she has, CLN1, has only been recorded in around 200 people, according to the US government's National Institutes of Health.
Vicky Cunningham, 34, of West Lothian, Scotland, has told of her heartbreak as she watches her two-year-old daughter, Mirryn, die of 'childhood dementia'
Ms Cunningham said her baby was a happy and healthy baby, despite being born premature
Ms Cunningham told The Sun: 'Like an elderly person with dementia she will stop breathing in the end. It’s taking my little girl, piece by piece.
'It's heartbreaking to see. She should be starting nursery but I know it will never happen. There's so much she will be missing.
'She is so different to the happy girl she used to be. I never would have imagined this could happen.'
Mirryn was born at 31 weeks and two days, weighing 3lb 2oz, and spent two months in a special care unit being treated for jaundice – a sign of liver problems.
But she developed normally once returning home, and Ms Cunningham will always hold memories of her daughter's former cheeky personality, gurgles and babbling.
At 10 months old, Ms Cunningham noticed she was no longer trying to grab things – such as her toys or mother's hand – and her muscles appeared to be weaker.
Mirryn was referred to St John's Hospital in Livingston where she had an MRI which showed some decline in the myelin in the brain – a fatty substance which protects nerves.
But doctors were not hugely concerned at that point.
However, Mirryn's behaviour became worse at an alarming rate, according to Ms Cunningham.
She was no longer rocking in her baby bouncer and she stopped making babbling sounds.
Ms Cunningham, pictured holding Mirryns, said: 'Like an elderly person with dementia she will stop breathing in the end. It’s taking my little girl, piece by piece'
At 10 months old, Ms Cunningham instinctively knew something wasn't right when Mirryn stopped trying to hold her hand
