A CHARITY is looking for relatives of a doctor from the town who discovered a rare genetic disorder 50 years ago.

Harry Angelman was a paediatrician who named and identified Angelman syndrome, caused by a minute genetic change,which leads to significant learning difficulties, epilepsy and complex communication needs.

The cause are hoping to track down relatives of Dr Angelman and his wife Audrey to recognise them during a special anniversary year which also would have been the doctor's 100th birthday.

Rachel Martin, Angelman Syndrome Support Education and Research Trust (ASSERT) trustee and chairman, said: "It is because of Dr Harry Angelman that thousands of individuals with AS are able to obtain proper diagnoses and treatments.

"Without him, our community would not be advancing towards a better life for our loved ones.

"Dr Angelman and his wife were also personal supporters of individuals with AS, meeting with scores of families as we collectively worked to generate greater awareness and support."

Harry was appointed consultant paediatrician in Warrington in 1950 and was praised for raising standards from 'a few cots with an open fire' to being featured in a national nursing magazine.

The hospital served a catchment area of a quarter of a million people and Harry, single-handed, elected to work as a full time NHS paediatrician.

He wrote in 1991 it was 'purely by chance' he discovered the condition as three handicapped children were admitted to his children’s ward.

They had a variety of disabilities and, although at first sight they seemed to be suffering from different conditions, he felt that there was a common cause for their illness.

He wrote an article about the three children in 1965 with many doctors denying such a condition existed before it was eventually established beyond doubt with further scientific proof.

Angelman Syndrome support groups have since been set up across the world with families in the north west coming together at Warrington Sensory Play Centre recently to mark 50 years of the condition.

In October this year, the Angelman Syndrome Support Education and Research Trust (ASSERT) is also hosting the fourth international meeting for scientists and researchers into AS at the new Alder Hey Education and Research Centre to raise further awareness.

For more information, e-mail rachel.martin@angelmanuk.org, call 0300 999 0102 or visit angelmanuk.org.