‘If left alone in a buffet, Richard would eat and eat’

DON TALLON remembers the first day he was told his toddler son was stealing food from other children. His baby boy had been a little different growing up, but he and his wife Diane had not known why.

“We took him to Crumlin Hospital and the doctors said we were overfeeding him. He was admitted there to lose weight but he stole the other children’s food from lockers. After a month, they came up with a [different] diagnosis.”

Richard was diagnosed with Prader-Willi Syndrome, a condition where a person can never satisfy their appetite because of an imbalance in the brain.