As sunshine flushed into the doctor’s office, 11-year-old Lionel Messi anxiously waited for the diagnosis of Growth Hormone Deficiency after a year of testing. The young superstar of the youth club Newell’s Old Boys has led the team to be unbeatable, losing only one game in four years, with young Messi himself scoring 500 goals as the member of “The Machine of ‘87”. However, his family has realised that there is something different about the boy other than his prodigious talent – after measuring his height for 24 months, the doctor has found out that he has barely grown since the age of nine. He was 4 feet 4 inches tall (1.32m), and it was predicted that he would only grow to a maximum height of 4 feet 7 inches (1.40m) without intervention.
Growth hormone deficiency (GHD) is the result of a smaller gland in one of the parts of the larger pituitary gland not functioning properly, causing inadequate secretion of Growth hormone. The hormone is responsible for the growth of muscles, bones, and organs in the body by stimulating the synthesis of a protein called insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) in various tissues, including the kidney, which more directly causes the growth. The hormone is also responsible for controlling the amount of fat under the skin, which explains why some patients may be overweight. However, the cause of the condition is unknown, and is thus described as idiopathic. It occurs in about 1 in every 3800 births and can affect adults as well (adult-onset), occurring in approximately 1 in 10,000 of the adult UK population. The symptoms of the illness can vary depending on the severity – it is important to know that GHD is not only about height; some people suffering from the illness can lack physical ability but have a normal height and weight.
The most common treatment for GHD is the injection of synthetic human growth hormone(hGH), which is produced using the recombinant DNA technology with the plasmids of E.Coli bacteria. Compared to the Messi family, and others at the end of 20th century, paying for the synthetic hormone is much less of a financial burden. The average annual cost of hormone treatment is around £3350 per patient, as opposed to the $1500 a month paid by young Messi’s club (who later refused to keep paying, transferring the fees to his family). The drug had only been commercially available for about twenty years at the time, and the cost of treatment tended to be higher for teenagers because of larger dosages needed for younger patients. From the age of 11, young Lionel injected himself with growth hormone every day.
Fortunately, during the trial with La Masia, FC Barcelona’s youth academy, Messi scored five goals and convinced the coach that it would be a mistake not to sign him. His transfer to Barcelona was signed at the dinner table, on a napkin, by Messi’s agent and the club’s Technical Director, with the latter agreeing that the club would pay for all his future hormone treatment. His short stature was physically perfect for his style of playing, giving him a low centre of gravity that multiplied his technical ability and combined with his strong upper body strength. Argentina’s Number 10 was able to achieve a normal and healthy life, plus a height of 5 feet 7 (170cm) – just about the average height for an Argentinian male (but still two inches taller than Diego Maradona).
