A PARKINSON’S Disease sufferer has appealed for people to be patient when they come across those afflicted by the 'horrible' condition.

James DeLittle was speaking as he revealed that pioneering treatment he underwent in Kiev earlier this year had sadly failed to transform his condition.

He said he considered his illness a life sentence, which he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy, but it was made even worse by other people's impatience, or assumption that he was drunk.

He contacted The Press to make a special plea to readers: "Next time you are in a the back of a queue and are thinking: "For goodness sake, what is this guy doing? What's taking so long?" or "You're clearly drunk. I can't understand a word you said," just wait a minute.

"All we ask from you is please be patient and don't ignore us and start to talk to the person we are with - that is so annoying -just give us a little more time to explain."

Mr DeLittle, 49, of Broadway West, Fulford, hit the headlines earlier this year when he went to a clinic in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, for foetal stem cells to be injected into him in a bid to tackle the illness.

The clinic told him it had treated more than 100 patients with Parkinson’s in recent years, with improvements reported in 75 per cent of cases, including reduction of tremor and rigidity, and cognitive and gait improvements. Well-wishers helped raised £7,000 to pay for the treatment, travel and accommodation.

The former St Peter’s School pupil initially thought after returning home from Kiev that he was feeling some benefits, such as improved balance.

He said yesterday there had not been any more improvements but he did not regret going, saying: "I know it was expensive, but I had to know one way or another if it worked; otherwise, for the rest of my life, it would have been eating away at me that there was something out there that might just do the job.

"There was no one I could ask, so there was only one way to find out."