Shock as fit and active horse trainer suddenly struck down by CJD
FAMILY members have spoken of their devastation after a horse trainer died from the human form of mad cow disease just days after being diagnosed.
Mark Douglas succumbed to the rare brain condition Creutzfeldt-Jakob (CJD), linked with mad cow disease, earlier this year.
The 37-year-old had been diagnosed with the condition only two weeks before he passed away.
Yesterday, his partner of 20 years, Laura Baird, said the diagnosis had come as a complete shock to the family.
We thought, it can't be CJD
She said: "We thought, it can't be CJD. He was the wrong age group and all sorts but that was what he had.
"It was a massive shock to us."
The rare condition claims the lives of less than 100 people in the UK each year.
Mad cow disease: The facts
Initially, they were unable to discover what was wrong with Mr Douglas and he underwent a variety of tests and scans before CJD was diagnosed. Doctors are unsure how Mr Douglas, a former army reserve, contracted the disease.
Born in Edinburgh, he had spent more than 20 years working as a horse trainer before moving to Canonbie, near Dumfries, to found Chamfron Stud Farm when he was struck down with the illness.
Ms Baird, 40, of Bathgate, West Lothian, added: "He was very confident, very capable. There wasn't anything he couldn't turn his hand to and he would always give anything a go.
"He was very loyal to his friends. He was by all accounts an exceptional horseman and a good bloke. The day he was diagnosed I had 29 horses in the stud and I just stood in the barn and though: 'What am I going to do?'"
CJD is part of a group of rare, fatal brain disorders which occur when a particular protein starts to behave abnormally.
When this protein folds into an unusual shape it can damage brain cells, causing a rapid decline in thinking and muscle movement.
CJD kills around one or two people in a million each year worldwide. The illness can be passed down through family members, although most cases occur with no explanation.
A variant form of CJD sparked panic in the 1990s as scientists linked it to eating infected beef from cows with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) - or mad cow disease.