OBESE BOY'S RARE DISEASE WHICH MAKES HIM EAT ANYTHING EVEN TISSUE PAPER

It’s the heartbreaking reality she has to face every day – her son suffers from an incurable disease that’s slowly claiming his young life. Pain and distress are evident in Zola Benjamin’s voice, as the single mother-of-one chats to us from Standerton in Mpumalanga, where she lives with her mother, Rose Manickum, and nine-year-old son, Caden. “It’s extremely difficult. There are days I wish I could just end Caden’s and my life,” Zola admits distraughtly. “Then there are days where I feel, ‘Okay, there might be some hope. Things could get better’. But the truth is it never becomes easier.” Caden suffers from Prader-Willi Syndrome and was diagnosed when he was just three years old. Prader-Willi Syndrome is a genetic disorder where the sufferer’s appetite is never satisfied – their hunger is essentially permanent no matter the amount of food they eat. Caden’s hunger was so extreme, he’d eat toilet paper, dirt or lip balm cases just to satisfy his appetite. At just ten years old...