This figure, Christina Olson, suffered from a mysterious
disease that gradually diminished her ability to walk. At the time, locals
believed she had polio, but the disease was never definitely diagnosed before
her death.
Olson was born in 1893, before the large-scale outbreaks of
polio hit the U.S., writes to Christopher Wanjek at Live Science. As a three
year old, she walked on the outer edges of her feet but her limbs gradually
weakened, leaving her immobile in her 20s. She may have also lost some
sensation in her limbs—when she fell asleep next to a stove in her 50s, she
supposedly burned herself without noticing.
“All of these things to me speak against polio,” Patterson
tells Wanjek. Polio symptoms tend to be worst at the beginning of the disease
and improve over time, the opposite of Olson's experience. Instead, Patterson
believes she suffered from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a hereditary condition
of the peripheral nerves that afflicts about 2.8 million people worldwide.
Courtesy of a colleague
It is one of the most famous paintings in American history:
Christina's World, by Andrew Wyeth. The painting, which hangs in the Museum of
Modern Art in New York, depicts a young woman in a field, gazing at a farmhouse
on an idyllic summer day.
But this lovely image has a dark side.
The subject in the painting is Christina Olson, Wyeth's good
friend and neighbor. For most of her life, she suffered from a mysterious
disorder, which slowly took away her ability to walk, and eventually to use her
hands. She died at the age of 74 after a difficult life, and her disease has
never been diagnosed.
Until now.
After closely examining a range of evidence about her
condition, Mayo Clinic child neurologist Marc Patterson has pinpointed a
diagnosis. He thinks she likely had an early-onset form of Charcot-Marie-Tooth
Disease, a group of inherited disorders that affect the peripheral nerves and
can lead to significant problems with movement. He will deliver his diagnosis
at the 23nd annual Historical Clinicopathological Conference, held Friday, May
6 at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The conference is devoted
to the diagnosis of disorders that afflicted historical figures; in the past,
experts have focused on the diseases of luminaries such as Lenin, Darwin and
Lincoln.
Dr. Patterson, a professor of neurology, pediatrics and
medical genetics at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, reviewed her
medical history, and also considered Wyeth's art that portrayed her, including
Christina's World.
"This was a fascinating case," he says. "This
painting has long been a favorite of mine, and the question of Christina's
ailment was an intriguing medical mystery. I think her case best fits the
profile of this disease."
Also speaking at the conference will be Thomas B. Cole,
associate editor for the Journal of the American Medical Association. Dr. Cole
is an expert on art devoted to medical topics.
The conference was founded in 1995 by Philip A. Mackowiak,
MD, Carolyn Frenkil and Selvin Passen History of Medicine Scholar-in-Residence
at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. "This is a amazing piece
of medical detective work," says Dr. Mackowiak. "It brings home the
fact that medicine has learned enormous amounts in the past few decades."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160506095700.htm
Patterson MC, Cole TB, Siegel E, Mackowiak PA. A Patient as
Art: Andrew Wyeth's Portrayal of Christina Olson's Neurologic Disorder
in Christina's World. J Child Neurol. 2017 Jun;32(7):647-649.
Abstract
In Christina's World, one of the most beloved works of
American art, Andrew Wyeth painted Christina Olson crawling crablike across the
field below her house, raised on emaciated arms, with a swollen knob for an
elbow, and hands clenched and gnarled. The significance of these physical
abnormalities, and the message Wyeth endeavored to convey via the portrait, are
considered here in light of Christina's medical history and the disorder it
most likely signifies.
From the article:
From the article:
She began life as a small, blond-haired girl with a “silver
giggle,” who seemed no different from other children. However, by the time she
reached the age of 3, she was walking on the outsides of her feet with on odd
gait. Even so, she was a bright, fiercely determined child, who stomped around
ignoring her disability as it gradually worsened. By the time she was 13 years
old, she stumbled and fell frequently, though with a mind wonderfully “bright,
curious and hungry.”…
Her letters at that time, however, told a different story,
one involving a series of “bad falls…
Christina’s balance soon worsened to the point that it was
unsafe for her to look up without having a firm grip on something to steady
her. Although she was still able to walk, her crablike gait forced her to use
the entire width of the road when ambulating. Her mother made her kneepads to
wear under her skirt as protection against her many falls. Her hands as yet
unaffected were capable of the intricate work of a talented seamstress…
By the time she reached 26, Christina could walk only 3 or 4
steps without assistance, and her hands had become so misshapen and unsteady
she had to use her elbows, knees, and wrists to do those things formerly done
with her hands. Offers of help were gently but firmly refused. By the end of
her fifth decade, she had lost the ability to stand and had to crawl to get
where she wanted to go, though her mind continued to be as sharp as ever…
When she was 56, she developed a severe illness thought to
have been pneumonia. One evening, while recuperating, she sat with one leg stretched
out beneath a stove and fell asleep. When she awoke, the heat from the fire had
seared the flesh from her withered leg. The third-degree burn healed slowly in
response to repeated application of cod liver oil….
Having eliminated these possibilities, only one of the
hereditary motor and sensory neuropathies remains as Christina’s probable
diagnosis—one that presents in childhood and follows a slowly progressive
course over the life of the patient—in short, “Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.”
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