DOCTORS are baffled by a mystery illness which has killed one child and paralysed another in a Preston family.

Zakarya and Asma Gangat from Lowthorpe Road, Deepdale were both born healthy, normal children. But as each one reached 18 months old they suddenly lost the ability to speak or move. Now, their father Yakub wants to meet other parents whose children have been struck down with this condition in the hope that it might bring them nearer to a diagnosis or even a cure. He said: "Doctors carried out countless tests on Zakarya, but they found no reason for his illness.

"It was so frustrating not to even have a name, never mind an explanation for their condition."

They were both lively, active babies who seemed to be developing normally - if a little slowly.

It came as a bolt from the blue because the children had an older brother, Imran, 20, and a sister, Suemyya, 13, who are unaffected.

Zakarya died in October 1992 aged just nine after he caught a chest infection. His sister Asma was already ill and doctors warned that she would not see her tenth birthday, but they were wrong. She is 11 years old and still attending The Elms School for disabled children.

Mr Gangat said: "The problem with having an undiagnosed condition is that you don't know what to expect next.

"This is why it is so important we meet someone else who has been through this."

Parents whose children are suffering from a similar condition and wish to contact the Gangats should contact Eileen Elliot at Preston Council for Voluntary Service on 200173.

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