Female Beauty

“Hello everyone, we got a serious-sounding letter from the Beckham’s lawyers regarding a member posting a paparazzi-picture that violated the privacy of the Beckham-family, the young ones in particular…., I wish I could post it for you to read, or to quote certain parts of it, but it’s specifically labelled as “confidential” and “not for publication”, so I wouldn’t want to breach their copyright on top of it.” That was an open letter from a forum owner, Dennis, posted on 3rd Nov. in his forum. Apparently a member posted a picture of Victoria and the boys at Heathrow airport last weekend. The reason for the pictures causing a huge issue, posted was the flashes were right in Romeo’s face. They are trying to ban those pictures because their 4 year old child in those pics is clearly distressed. Victoria Beckham has ordered the paparazzi to stop taking flash photographs of her four year old son, Romeo, because he’s recently been diagnosed with epilepsy and she’s worried the flashes could spark a seizure.

Victoria has revealed that she and David are now terrified flash photos will spark an epileptic fit that could kill him. News of the World doctor Hilary Jones said: “We do not know how seriously the condition affects Romeo but if he is having grand mals “which cause the sufferer to thrash about and bite their tongue” it can cause a fatality. According to the News of the World, the worried mum yelled at the photographers to “leave him alone. He’s got epilepsy. All that flashing will start an epileptic fit. You can’t do that!”

A source told the paper: “Romeo was very distressed. He hates flashes going off because he knows what they can do to him. Normally he just shields his eyes but this was right in his face. There was nowhere for them to go. Victoria was really scared and tried to shield him. She was furious. That’s why she yelled out anything to make them stop and think about what they’re doing to him.”

Romeo Beckham has been hospitalized several times in recent years after a number of mystery convulsions, a source close to the family in Spain told the paper that Romeo was diagnosed after suffering from a number of seizures and convulsions during his short life to date: “They have told friends the situation. While it’s heartbreaking, he is being brave. They are devastated - worried sick about Romeo. He is on medication to control the seizures but obviously things like flashing lights can trigger one at any time. They can only hope the medication limits the number of fits he suffers to a minimum and he can enjoy as normal a life as possible. Epilepsy affects a great number of people and many grow out of it. They are just praying Romeo gets better.”

Victoria has been seeking advice from celebrity pal Elton John, who also suffers from the condition. He is godfather to little Romeo and his older brother Brooklyn.  “Elton has been a tower of strength for the Beckhams since they found out the news. He’s been able to tell them how it affected him and how to cope,” the pal added.
Other famous sufferers of epilepsy include Vincent van Gogh, Julius Caesar, Sir Winston Churchill, Napoleon, comic Rik Mayall, and actor Richard Burton.

Kevin Smith, owner of Splash news, the agency that took the shot, said: “No picture is worth putting a child’s life in danger. Now that we know Romeo has epilepsy I will not be authorizing any of my photographers to take flash pictures of him. I think this is absolutely the right thing to do and I hope other agencies follow suit.”

Epilepsy (sometimes referred to as a seizure disorder) is a common chronic neurological condition that is characterized by recurrent unprovoked epileptic seizures. It affects approximately 50 million people worldwide, and is usually controlled, but not cured, with anti-convulsant drugs although surgery may be considered in difficult cases.

There are several different types of seizure, ranging from short absences (where the sufferer appears to just stare into space for the duration) to tonic-clonic seizures involving full body convulsions as muscles repeatedly severely contract and release. In six out of ten sufferers, epilepsy can be explained by brain tumors or injuries to the head. But for the rest there is no easy explanation and the cause remains a mystery.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 5th, 2006 at 10:47 pm and is filed under Celebrity Children, Celebrity News, Family, Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.