FAMILY and friends of man who died from a rare brain disease have launched a charity in his memory.

Machine operator Shaun Murphy’s health began rapidly deteriorating late last year and in November doctors concluded he was suffering from sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD).

It is caused by an abnormally shaped protein called a prion infecting the brain and it is thought the disease affects about one in a million people each year.

Mr Murphy, who was 61, lived in Nettlesworth, near Chester-le-Street, County Durham, with his wife, Lynn, and his 32-year-old son, Adam.

Mrs Murphy said: “We went on holiday to Santorini in August and he was fine, enjoying himself and walking up the mountain.

“In November, he started being ill. The symptoms were a bit like dementia. He was forgetting things, like where his glasses or keys were.

“It quickly got to where he could not dress himself or feed himself. He did not know how to shower. That was within two weeks.”

Mr Murphy was initially taken to the University Hospital of North Durham before he was transferred to the RVI.

Mrs Murphy said: “They did not know what it was at first. They did a lot of tests, MRIs and scans. They did not know what was wrong, but they got this professor from Edinburgh who is a CJD specialist and he explained the disease to us.

“It is a cell in the body, which changes into a bad cell, then it multiplies and attacks the brain and that is what happened.”

As his condition got worse Mr Murphy started having seizures and doctors put him into an induced coma to keep them under control.

Mrs Murphy said: “It has been hard watching him because every day there was a deterioration.”

“It was attacking his brain and for the first week he was okay and could communicate, but once he got to the RVI that was it.”

Mr Murphy died in hospital on February 3, and his funeral is today (Tuesday, February 21) at St Bede’s RC Church in Sacriston followed by cremation in Durham.

The charity, Shaun’s One in a Million, has been launched by his loved ones and family friend Wendy McKenzie.

Mrs Murphy said: “Unfortunately, it just happens but they do not know why. The money we are raising is for a research centre to find out how people get it in the first place.”

On Saturday, over 20 people are meeting at The Red Lion at Plawsworth for a sponsored walk into Durham with collection buckets.

Ms McKenzie, 47, from Langley Park, said: “Shaun was always a happy and loving person who loved life and loved to socialise with his many friends. He will be sadly missed.

“We are trying to raise donations to help with the research of this deadly disease.”

An online fundraising page has already got over £1,400 and the family hope to reach the £2,000 mark.

Mr Murphy’s son, Adam, said: “The condition is so rare that people are not really aware of it. They do not know what really triggers it or how to treat it because there is to enough research. That is what the charity is for. My dad had a one in a million chance of getting it and he was one in a million.”

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