Unusual People

Shoichi Yokoi

2018-04-03T19:48:00.003-07:00

Shoichi Yokoi

Shōichi Yokoi
Shōichi Yokoi
Native name	横井庄一
Born	March 31, 1915 Saori, Aichi Prefecture, Empire of Japan
Died	September 22, 1997 (aged 82) Nagoya, Japan
Allegiance	Empire of Japan
Service/branch	Imperial Japanese Army 1941–1944
Years of service	1941–1972
Rank	Sergeant
Battles/wars	World War II Second Battle of Guam

Shōichi Yokoi (横井庄一 Yokoi Shōichi, March 31, 1915 – September 22, 1997) was a Japanese sergeant in the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during the Second World War. He was among the last three Japanese holdouts to be found after the end of hostilities in 1945, discovered in the jungles of Guam on 24 January 1972, almost 28 years after U.S. forces had regained control of the island in 1944.

Early life

Yokoi was born in Saori, Aichi Prefecture. He was an apprentice tailor when he was conscripted in 1941

War years and post-war survival

Visitors to Guam can take a short ropeway ride to "Yokoi's Cave", a tourist attraction/monument to Yokoi's life located on the site of the original cave at Talofofo Falls Resort Park. The original cave was destroyed in a typhoon.

Initially, Yokoi served with the 29th Infantry Division in Manchukuo. In 1943, he was transferred to the 38th Regiment in the Mariana Islands and arrived on Guam in February 1943. When American forces captured the island in the 1944 Battle of Guam, Yokoi went into hiding with nine other Japanese soldiers. Seven of the original ten eventually moved away and only three remained in the region. These men separated but visited each other until about 1964, when the other two died in a flood. The last eight years Yokoi lived alone. Yokoi survived by hunting, primarily at night. He used native plants to make clothes, bedding, and storage implements, which he carefully hid in his cave.

Capture

This newspaper photograph was described as Yokoi's first haircut in 28 years.

On the evening of 24 January 1972, Yokoi was discovered in the jungle^[by Jesus Dueñas and Manuel De Gracia, two local men checking their shrimp traps along a small river on Talofofo. They had assumed Yokoi was a villager from Talofofo, but he thought his life was in danger and attacked them. They managed to subdue him and carried him out of the jungle with minor bruising.

"It is with much embarrassment that I return," he said upon his return to Japan. The remark quickly became a popular saying in Japan.

Despite hiding for twenty-eight years in an underground jungle cave, he had known since 1952 that World War II had ended. He feared coming out of hiding, explaining, "We Japanese soldiers were told to prefer death to the disgrace of getting captured alive."

Yokoi was the antepenultimate Japanese soldier to surrender after the war, preceding Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda (relieved from duty by his former commanding officer on 9 March 1974) and Private Teruo Nakamura (arrested 18 December 1974).

Later life

In this book, Yokoi's autobiography is supplemented by a biographical account of his later life.

After a whirlwind media tour of Japan, he married and settled down in rural Aichi Prefecture.

Yokoi became a popular television personality and an advocate of austere living.

He was featured in a 1977 documentary film called Yokoi and His Twenty-Eight Years of Secret Life on Guam.

He eventually received the equivalent of US$300 in back pay, and a small pension.

Although he never met Emperor Hirohito, while visiting the grounds of the Imperial Palace, Yokoi said, "Your Majesties, I have returned home ... I deeply regret that I could not serve you well. The world has certainly changed, but my determination to serve you will never change."

Yokoi died in 1997 of a heart attack at the age of 82, and was buried at a Nagoya cemetery, under a gravestone that had originally been commissioned by his mother in 1955, after Yokoi had been officially declared dead.

Museum

The Shoichi Yokoi Memorial Hall opened in 2006 in Nakagawa-ku, Nagoya. Admission is free.

Mehran Karimi Nasseri

2018-04-03T19:39:00.000-07:00

Mehran Karimi Nasseri

Mehran Karimi Nasseri

Born	مهران کریمی ناصری Mehran Karimi Nasseri 1942 (age 75–76) Masjed Soleiman, Iran
Nationality	Iranian (1942–1977) Stateless (1977–present)

Mehran Karimi Nasseri (مهران کریمی ناصری pronounced born 1942), also known as Sir Alfred Mehran, is an Iranian refugee who lived in the departure lounge of Terminal One in Charles de Gaulle Airport from 26 August 1988 until July 2006, when he was hospitalized for an unspecified ailment. His autobiography has been published as a book, The Terminal Man, in 2004. His story was the inspiration for the 2004 Tom Hanks movie The TerminalEarly life

Nasseri was born in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company settlement located in Masjed Soleiman, Iran. His father was an Iranian physician working for the company. Nasseri stated that his mother was a nurse from Scotland working in the same place. He arrived in the United Kingdom in September 1973, to take a three-year course in Yugoslav studies at the University of Bradford.

Life in Terminal 1

Nasseri's residency site in Terminal 1 of Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Nasseri claims he was expelled from Iran in 1977 for protests against the Shah and after a long battle, involving applications in several countries, was awarded refugee status by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Belgium. This allegedly permitted residence in many other European countries. However, this claim has been disputed, with investigations showing that Nasseri was never expelled from Iran.

Having claimed to have one British parent, although he has produced no evidence to support this claim, he decided to settle in the UK in 1986, but en route there in 1988, his papers were lost when his briefcase was allegedly stolen.(Others indicate that Nasseri actually mailed his documents to Brussels while onboard a ferry to Britain, lying about them being stolen. Despite this setback, he boarded the plane for London but was promptly returned to France when he failed to present a passport to British immigration officials. He was initially arrested by the French, but then released as his entry to the airport was legal and he had no country of origin to be returned to; thus began his residency at Terminal 1.

His case was later taken on by French human rights lawyer Christian Bourget. In 1992, a French court ruled that, having entered the country legally, he could not be expelled from the airport, but it could not grant him permission to enter France.

Attempts were then made to have new documents issued from Belgium, but the authorities there would only do so if Nasseri presented himself in person. However, under Belgian law a refugee who voluntarily leaves a country that has accepted him cannot return. In 1995, the Belgian authorities granted permission for him to return, but only if he agreed to live there under supervision of a social worker. Nasseri refused this on the grounds of wanting to enter the UK as originally intended

Both France and Belgium offered Nasseri residency, but Nasseri refused to sign the papers as they listed him as being Iranian (he wanted it to be British), and did not show his preferred name, "Sir, Alfred Mehran" His refusal to sign the documents that would give him his freedom was much to the frustration of his lawyer, Bourget. When contacted about Nasseri's situation, his family stated that they believed he was living the life he wanted.

In 2003 Spielberg's DreamWorks production company paid US$250,000 to Nasseri for the rights to his story, but ended up not using his story in the subsequent movie, The Terminal.

Nasseri's stay at the airport ended in July 2006 when he was hospitalized and his sitting place dismantled. Towards the end of January 2007, he left the hospital and was looked after by the airport's branch of the French Red Cross; he was lodged for a few weeks in a hotel close to the airport. On March 6, 2007, he transferred to an Emmaus charity reception-centre in Paris's 20th arrondissement. Since 2008 he has continued to live in a Paris shelter.

During his 18-year-long stay at Terminal 1 in the Charles de Gaulle Airport, Nasseri had his luggage at his side and spent his time reading, writing in his diary, or studying economics. He received food and newspapers from employees of the airport, visits from journalists eager to tell his story, and letters of support.

Autobiography

In 2004 Nasseri's autobiography, The Terminal Man, was published. It was co-written by Nasseri with British author Andrew Donkin, and was reviewed in the UK's Sunday Timesas being "profoundly disturbing and brilliant"

Documentaries and fictionalizations

Nasseri's story provided the inspiration for the 1994 French film Tombés du ciel, starring Jean Rochefort, internationally released under the title Lost in Transit. The short story "The Fifteen-Year Layover", written by Michael Paterniti and published in GQ and The Best American Non-Required Reading, chronicles Nasseri's life. Alexis Kouros made a documentary about him, Waiting for Godot at De Gaulle (2000). Glen Luchford and Paul Berczeller made the Here to Where mockumentary (2001), also featuring Nasseri. Hamid Rahmanian and Melissa Hibbard made a documentary called Sir Alfred of Charles De Gaulle Airport (2001).

Nasseri was reportedly the inspiration behind the character Viktor Navorski, from the 2004 Steven Spielberg movie The Terminal; however, neither publicity materials, nor the DVD"special features" nor the film's website mentions Nasseri's situation as an inspiration for the film. Despite this, in September 2003, The New York Times noted that Steven Spielberghad bought the rights to his life story as the basis for The Terminal. The Guardian indicates that Spielberg's DreamWorks production company paid US$250,000 to Nasseri for rights to his story and report that, as of 2004, he carried a poster advertising Spielberg's film draping his suitcase next to his bench. Nasseri was reportedly excited about The Terminal, but it was unlikely that he would ever have had a chance to see it in theatres.

Nasseri's story was also the inspiration for the contemporary opera Flight by British composer Jonathan Dove, which won the Helpmann Award at the Adelaide Festival Theatre in March 2006.^[11]

Lakshmi Tatma

2018-04-03T19:25:00.002-07:00

A young baby was born in one of the most discussed about countries here at Unusual people. you guessed it India. Lakshmi Tatma is now two years old and has taken her first steps after a life saving operation. The young girl was worshipped in her country and the ocals thought she was like a goddess because of her unusual medical condition.

She was believed by village locals to be a reincarnation of the goddess Lakshmi. At first her parents were hesitant to perform the operation whch would remove the additional limbs, however they quickly changed their mind after doctors advised the parents it would be difficult for her to survive into adulthood. The operation took a total of 27 hours to remove the remains of her parasitic twin. The parasitic twin used her body for nutrition and respiration although the young child was unable to move the additional limbs. She has been featured on shows on television such as National Geographic and will require additional surgeries to correct her spine and feet which are pointed inward.

Lakshmi has certainly lived quite the unusual and extraordinary life in her short span of two years.

Francisco Domingo Joaquim

2016-10-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

“World’s Widest Mouth Ever” by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Francisco Domino Joaquim’s mouth is so wide that he can squeeze a whole can of soda pop into his jaw without any hassle at all!

Francisco Domino Joaquim’s chops measure 6.69 inches across, and his super rubbery yap has propelled him into the public consciousness as the Guinness Book of World Records has now recognised it as being the widest on the planet.

Aged just twenty, Francisco Domino Joaquim was known for a long time in his country as the Angolan Jaw of Awe.

But he never really had to test his elastic skills until he entered the Big Mouth competition held annually in Rome.

In Big Mouth, participants have to stuff their gobs with numerous everyday items that range from coffee cups and saucers, to beer bottles and cans of pop.

And indeed nobody could beat the Angolan Jaw of Awe who managed to squeeze an entire can of coke in his cake hole sideways.

Francisco Domino Joaquim - who is known by his “stage name” Chiquinho - first found fame locally when he performed his talent on the streets of Angola. He became a minor star on YouTube, and it was here that Guinness Book of World Records found out about his astounding feat and got in touch.

But it was really on Italian TV when he shot to global fame. He managed to pop a can of soda in and out of his mouth an incredible fourteen times in a single minute.

Teenager has tongue is the size of a TENNIS BALL

2016-10-28T03:33:00.000-07:00

A teenager with a tongue the size of a tennis ball fears going to sleep every night - in case he chokes to death on the huge organ.

Krzysztof Wegrzyn, from Grojec, Poland, was born with a haemangioma - a benign tumour in the blood vessels of his tongue.

Two attempts were made to remove the growth when he was a child but both had to be called off because of massive blood loss.

Condition: Krzysztof’s tongue is the size of a tennis ball

Struggle: The teenager is hoping to have life-changing surgery on his tongue

Now 18, Krzysztof’s tumour has grown so large it is close to blocking off his airway and he is struggling to speak.

But despite his problems there is still a chance he could live a completely normal life.

Krzsysztof explained: “I saw a boy from Norway who underwent an operation there and he looked great. You could not see that he had ever been ill.

Growth: Krzysztof’s condition makes it difficult for him to breathe

"This is my biggest dream but I do not want to be disappointed.”

His family are now trying to raise £48,000 for a trip to the Zentrum Klinik fur Vasculare Maltformationen in Eberswalde, Brandenburg, Germany, where specialist doctors can remove the tumour.

If he gets the life-changing treatment, Krzsysztof said he would want to finish his studies, pass his driving test and see his dream of becoming a chef come true.

Julie Pastrana

2016-10-23T11:14:00.000-07:00

Julie Pastrana

An indigenous woman who toured Europe as “the world’s ugliest woman” was recently buried in her home nation Mexico - an incredible one-hundred and fifty years after she died.

Throughout her life, Julie Pastrana struggled with a genetic condition that deformed her looks and landed her circus work as a freak of nature.

When she died in 1860, her husband continued to tour with her embalmed body.

Born in 1834, Julie Pastrana’s face was covered with hair.

She also had a jutting jaw, and was mocked for begin an “ape woman” and a “bear woman.”

“Imagine the aggression and cruelty of humankind she had to face, and how she overcame it. It’s a very dignified story,” commented Sinaloa Governor Mario Lopez.

In 1850, Julie married an American impresario named Theodore Lent, who got her jobs in freak shows, in which she would dance and sing for audiences.

She died just a years later, not long after giving birth to a son who inherited her condition, and who survived just a few days.

Despite her death, Lent refused to give up on the income her looks were bringing in and he toured with both his wife and his son’s dead, embalmed bodies.

The gruesome tale didn’t end there. During a stay in Norway, the corpses were stolen and dumped.

The police recovered them and they were placed in storage at University of Oslo.

It was in 2005 when Julia Pastrana’s story came to the attention of Mexican artist Laura Anderson Barbata, who began a campaign to bring Julia’s remains home.

“I felt she deserved the right to regain her dignity and her place in history, and in the world’s memory.”

Crowds gathered to witness Julia Pastrana’s homecoming. “A human being should not be the object of anyone,” said Father Jaime Reyes Retana in an address to mourners.

Sadhu Amar Bharati

2016-10-23T11:12:00.002-07:00

26. Sadhu Amar Bharati

We’ve all felt a bit of arm ache after carrying heavy bags of shopping over long distances, but maybe few of you will complain less about muscle burn after reading about Sadhu Amar Bharati, an Indian holy man who says that he has held his right hand aloft since 1973.

This means that his hand has been held in the air for an incredible forty-three years.

After being held aloft for so long, his hand has turned into a scrap of skin and bone - and is completely useless.

Despite this, it Shiva worshippers have turned it into a symbol of discipline and devotion.

Until the start of the seventies, Sadhu Amar Bharati was just a middle-class Indian who lived a regular life like everyone else.

He had all the usual things: A wife, a home, a steady job.

He even had three children.

But all of this paled into insignificance when one day he woke up and decided he needed to leave it all behind to dedicate his life to Shiva, a Hindu god.

From then on, he wandered the roads of India, wearing nothing but simple clothes and carrying only a metal trident.

In 1973, after three years of wandering, Sadhu Amar Bharati decided he still had too many connections to the luxuries of modern life and decided he needed to make some sort of sacrifice.

That sacrifice was to raise his right arm - and keep it held aloft.

43 years on, Sadhu Amar Bharati is still dedicated to serving his god, and his right arm is still held in the air.

But even if he wanted to lower it and use it again, he can’t. It’s become completely useless.

Observers believe he rose his right arm in protest against all the destruction and chaos in the world, but he maintains that he did it as a symbol that he was ready to renounce his earthly possessions and serve his god.

Abigail And Brittany Hensel

2016-10-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

Abigail And Brittany Hensel

Meet Abigail and Brittany Hensel, conjoined Minnesota twins who deal with more struggles in a single day than many of us do over a lifetime.

It wasn’t long after they were born that their mom and dad were given the devastating news that their twins were conjoined - and that they might not survive much longer.

The tenacious pair beat the odds, and are living happy lives aged 23.

Viewers have been given a portal into their world thanks to a TV show - Abby and Brittany - which shows viewers how tough living as a conjoined twin actually is.

Abby and Brittany are incredibly rare. Firstly, a person has a 1 in 40,000 chances to been born conjoined.

Secondly, only 1% of conjoined twins survive after birth.

The sisters, who have two years, an incredible four lungs, two spines and a shared liver, were became conjoined when a fertilised egg did not separate inside their mother’s womb.

It was a fluke of nature - and it’s a miracle that they survived it.

The girls can only feel one half of their body, but they are sill able to play the piano, volleyball, softball - and they can even ride a bike and swim!

Although they were born with three arms, one arm was removed when they were born. They have undergone surgery numerous times, but both girls are in good health.

Their mom and dad have always wanted them to develop their own unique personalities, but they still have to work as a single body - even though they would love to be able to eat and sleep at different times.

Abigail and Brittany have not only had to live with each other, but they’ve also lived a life largely in the media

Polydactylism

2016-10-23T11:07:00.002-07:00

Polydactylism, or the disease where extra fingers or toes are present on the body, is considered to be one of the more common diseases within the development of birth. One out of every 500 children have Polydactylism. The extra finger or toe tends to be nothing more than soft tissue with no bone. Surgery to remove the extra digit is the only option.

Accelerated Aging Syndrome

2016-10-23T11:05:00.001-07:00

Source

Progeria or the Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome 3 is a disease in which children begin to look elderly even before they’re two years old. There is no disruption in intellectual development or motor skill development and the effect are mainly physical.

Children with this syndrome develop characteristic prominent eyes, a thin nose with a beaked tip, thin lips, a small chin, and protruding ears. They start looking like old people as in hair loss, aging skin, joint abnormalities, and a loss of fat under the skin. They experience severe hardening of the arteries (arteriosclerosis) beginning in childhood that lead to heart attack or stroke at young age. Unfortunately, this is a life threatening condition.

Rare ageing condition - Progeria

2016-10-05T05:33:00.001-07:00

This newborn baby has the looks of an 80-year-old after being born with rare condition

View photos

A boy has been born with a rare ageing condition that makes him more like a pensioner than a baby.

The tot was born with progeria, which has left wrinkles on the boy’s face, hollow eyes and extremely shrunken body.

Doctors in Magura, Bangladesh, are stunned at the condition of the baby.

One said: “The baby does not look like a newborn at all.

“There are prominent sings of ageing such a excessive wrinkles and rough skin texture.”

Despite his unusual look, the boy’s parents are ecstatic with the birth of the “miracle” child.

View photos

Dad Biswajit Patro said: “We can only thank God. There is no need to be unhappy about the appearance of my son.

“We will accept him the way he is. We are so happy to have a baby boy in the house.”

He added: “We have been getting a lot of visitors. Relatives, neighbours and even people from neighbouring villages have come to see our son.

“We are happy to host them all.”

Biswajit and wife Parul Patro already have one daughter and hope their new addition will grow up to be a healthy boy.

Doctors say the boy will do well for the time being but they are unsure what measures will be needed in future to treat him.

Macrodactyly

2016-06-18T02:48:00.000-07:00

Macrodactyly or other wise known as local giantism is a condition in which a certain part of the body acquires larger than normal size due to excessive growth of the fatty tissue, tumors and inflammation. It is more common in fingers and toes. However in more extreme cases sometimes an entire limbs may be enlarged.

Neurofibromatosis

2016-06-18T02:46:00.001-07:00

Though not many know of this health condition, Neurofibromatosis is a hereditary condition that carries higher chances of tumor formation in the nerves, particularly within the brain region. It is also the same disorder which the well-famed Joseph Merrick (AKA Elephant Man) was afflicted with.

Cutaneous horns

2016-06-18T02:44:00.001-07:00

Cutaneous horns, also known by the Latin name cornu cutaneum, are unusual keratinous skin tumours with the bizarre appearance of horns. They are usually small and localised, but can, in very rare cases be much larger. Doctors are unsure of causes but believe they are linked to excessive exposure to radiation.

Tom Leppard, tattooed man – obituary

2016-06-18T02:30:00.001-07:00

Tom Leppard on Skye

Tom Leppard, who has died aged 80, was an ex-soldier who became known as the Leopard Man of Skye after he covered 99.2 (or by some accounts 99.9) per cent of his body with tattooed spots to make himself look like a big cat, and moved to the Scottish island where, for 20 years, he lived like a hermit in a “cave” he built on the foundations of a ruined croft.

In 2001 Leppard (whose real name has been variously listed as Woolridge, Wooldridge or Woodridge), was recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the most tattooed man on Earth. Although he subsequently lost that title to Lucky Diamond Rich from New Zealand, he retained the title of most tattooed male senior citizen.

Leppard’s entire body, apart from the insides of his ears and in between his toes, was covered in a saffron yellow design flecked with black spots. Even his eyelids were tattooed with piercing blue-green feline irises. To complete the leopard look, he had a set of fangs custom-made by a dentist.

He would often be photographed with nothing on except a small pouch to preserve his modesty – except that it was also covered in leopard spots so that he gave the impression of being entirely naked.

Tom Leppard

His derelict bothy beside Loch na Beiste had no windows, electricity, heating or gas. The thatch had rotted away, and his makeshift metal sheet roof would not permit him to stand upright. He slept on a bed made from polystyrene board and cooked on a Primus stove, heating up tins of baked beans or ratatouille bought on weekly 5-mile round trips by kayak to the mainland. For 20 years he coped with freezing winters and plagues of midges in summer, but he insisted that life on the island suited him well.

The Leopard Man lived an apparently blameless existence and, though he claimed not to like people, appeared to be remarkably popular among the locals. Therefore it came as something of a shock in 2001 when it was revealed that a self-proclaimed vampire called Manuela Ruda, aka the “Bride of Satan”, then on trial for murder in Germany after sacrificing a man on an oak coffin in front of an altar of skulls, had stayed with him during a holiday in Scotland in 1996, claiming that she had been taught to worship the devil and drink blood during her visit.

Manuela Ruda was later convicted, and Leppard was appalled by the suggestion that he might have inspired her actions.

“She expressed an interest in me and told me she wanted to come and visit,” he told The Observer. “She seemed like an ordinary teenager.” He stoutly denied any satanic proclivities, explaining that he was a Catholic who prayed for three hours every day.

There is some mystery about Leppard’s early life, but it seems that he was born on October 14 1935, either in London or Suffolk.

Before his move to Skye, he spent nearly 30 years of his life in military service, first in the Royal Navy, which he joined aged 15, and later as a colour sergeant in the Rhodesian special forces. “I was based for a time in the Zambezi Valley which was the biggest open zoo in the world,” he recalled. “There were all sorts of animals there. Lions, elephants and giraffes, but no leopards.’

Interviewed in 2001, Leppard explained that after leaving the miltary, he found it difficult to mix with ordinary people: “I decided I wanted to be the biggest of something, the only one of something. It had to be a tattoo... I thought if I get the biggest of something and live in a strange way people might pay me.” The tattoos, etched on to his body over 18 months in the mid-1980s, cost £5,500.

He chose leopard spots not because of an interest in cats, but because they were easy for a tattoo artist to do: “It was a necessary evil to supplement my income support, or latterly my pension.” Despite his tattoos, Leppard felt “no affinity with leopards”.

In 2008, Leppard packed all his possessions into a couple of bin bags and moved into a care home in Inverness, admitting that he was getting too old for the weekly canoe trip to collect his shopping.

Tom Leppard, born October 14 1935, died June 12 2016

Polymelia

2016-06-16T10:25:00.000-07:00

Polymelia is a type of birth defect which occurs inside the mothers womb when the foetus is developing. Symptoms normally include developing extra parts of the body including deformed and shrunken limbs. Polymelia does not only happen in/on humans, but also in most species of land-dwelling animals. Polymelia is passed on through genetics, although it thank fully is an extremely rare condition.

Werewolf Disease

2016-06-16T10:21:00.002-07:00

Werewolf disease is a very rare disease called Congenital Hypertrichosis Lanuginosa which causes excessive body hair growth. It is sometimes referred to as werewolf syndrome, because the appearance is similar to the mythical werewolf. There are two main distinct types, one which occurs over the entire body, and another that is restricted to a certain area. Hypertrichosis/werewolf disease can be either present at birth or acquired later in life.

Man With A Nose On His Forehead

2016-06-16T10:18:00.000-07:00

This gentleman from China is undergoing a bizarre but revolutionary approach to surgical facial reconstruction. Due to a car accident the 22-year-old man suffered irreparable damage to his nose from a car accident and subsequent infection. In a new but strange idea surgeons came up with the idea of growing a nose on his forehead, which is apparently the perfect place due to the strong blood flow needed. The surgeons caring out this procedure say that the nose is in good shape.

Tree man' Abul Bajandar

2016-02-05T04:03:00.003-08:00

Image copyrightAFP/Getty

Image captionAbul Bajandar has epidermodysplasia verruciformi, a rare genetic disease that causes warts to form on the hands and feet

Bangladesh's government will pay for the treatment of "tree man" Abul Bajandar, who has a rare disease that causes warts to form on his body.

Health minister Mohammad Nasim made the announcement after visiting Mr Bajandar in hospital on Thursday.

Mr Bajandar has epidermodysplasia verruciformi, a genetic disease that makes a person susceptible to skin growth. It is popularly known as "tree man disease".

He first developed warts 10 years ago.

"Initially, I thought that they're harmless," Mr Bajandar told AFP.

"There are now dozens of two to three inch roots in both my hands. And there are some small ones in my legs," he said.

Image copyrightAFP/Getty

Image captionMr Bajandar had to rely on family members to help him eat

Mr Bajandar travelled to India to seek treatment, but his family could not afford the cost of operations.

Samples of his blood and skin tissue are now being sent to a laboratory in the United States, professor Abul Kalam, a plastic surgeon

He will be treated in Bangladesh when his diagnosis reports are available.

Mr Bajandar's is one of only three cases of "tree man disease" in the world, Samanta Lal Sen, director at Dhaka Medical College Hospital

"It is the first time we have found such a rare case in Bangladesh," he said.

Chandre Oram 13-inch Tailed Man

2016-01-24T12:21:00.000-08:00

With a 13-inch tail, Chandre Oram, a tea-estate worker, has become quite an object of devotion in his native Alipurduar, West Bengal and believes that Hanuman is manifest in him. "I was born on Ram Navami (birthday of Lord Ram). People have a lot of faith in me - they get cured of severe ailments when they touch my tail. I believe I can do a lot of good to those who come to me with devotion," says the man, before whom thousands of people queue up each day to seek blessings. In a corner of the courtyard of his home, Oram has set up a small Hanuman temple, where he receives offerings on Ram Navami, which he later offers to the deity.
However, because of the tail, Oram has found it difficult to get a bride. "Almost 20 women have turned down marriage proposals. They see me and agree to a match. But as soon as I turn around, they see my tail and leave. But I have decided I will marry the woman who accepts me and my tail. Or else, I'll remain a bachelor like Hanuman," he said. Oram's family is proud of his tail and has turned down offers from doctors for its removal by surgery. "He will not survive without his tail. It has become part of his being, his existence," said Rekha, his sister. Doctors say that true tails are rare. But they are located in the coccygeal end of the vertebral column whereas Oram's tail shoots out from the lumbar region. "The coccyx is a vestige in humans and we stopped growing tails from that region a long time ago when we evolved from monkeys. Oram's case seems an aberration, an offshoot of a congenital defect," said eminent surgeon Dr B Ramana. The medical community reads the monkey man's case as a spina bifida -- a defect in the bone of the spine covered by a hole with lots of hair covering it.

Frog-like Baby

2016-01-24T12:17:00.001-08:00

On 2006, this bizarre-looking baby was born in Charikot, the headquarters of Dolakha district, attracting a huge number of onlookers to witness the astonishing sight.

The neck-less baby with its head almost totally sunk into the upper part of the body and with extraordinarily large eyeballs literally popping out of the eye-sockets, was born to Nir Bahadur Karki and Suntali Karki at the Gaurishnkar Hospital in Charikot. The Karki couple is a permanent resident of Dolakha's Bhirkot VDC.

The bizarre baby, however, died after half an hour of its birth, Suntali, the mother, informed. It was taken to the hospital after its death. The news about such a baby being brought to the hospital spread like wildfire and there were hundreds gathered at the hospital to have a look. The police had to be deployed to control the crowd.

The baby weighed 2kg at birth and was born after the normal nine-month gestation period. Suntali, already a mother of two normal daughters, was not suffering from any illness during the pregnancy. Nir Bahadur, the father, says he does not feel any remorse for the newly-born baby's death. "I am happy that nothing happened to my wife," he said.

Shanyna Isom Woman Who Grows Fingernails in Place of Hair

2016-01-24T12:12:00.001-08:00

What if an unknown illness cost you everything? That is what happened to a Mid-South woman whose medical crisis has baffled doctors for almost three years now. It is a medical mystery you may find hard to watch, but what this woman lost due to disease she has gained in strength and spirit. Shanyna Isom was a high school graduate working toward a law degree. Today, loved ones have to help her get out of bed or off of the sofa. The nightmare began in September 2009, when Isom had an allergic reaction to steroids that she was given for an asthma attack. Within months, she was eaten alive by a debilitating skin disease doctors have yet to diagnose.

In August 2011, Isom was admitted to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Doctors determined that she produces 12 times the number of skin cells per hair follicle, which suffocates her skin. Instead of hair, her skin follicles produce human nails.

Doctors have been able to control her symptoms

Real Life "Benjamin Button" Brothers

2016-01-24T12:10:00.000-08:00

a pair of middle-aged brothers back to their childhood. Former RAF serviceman Michael Clark, 42, became homeless and now acts like a 10-year-old. Matthew Clark, 39, lost his job as a factory worker and started behaving like a toddler, despite having a 19-year-old daughter, Lydia, who is expecting a baby.

Their tragic situation mirrors the Brad Pitt film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, in which an old man keeps growing younger. The brothers now spend their days watching episodes ofThe Smurfs, eating crisps, and playing Snakes and Ladders because Clue is too difficult.

The brothers began behaving oddly after their parents retired to Spain in 2007. However, things came to a head last year when former RAF gunner Michael was evicted from his flat and slept rough for three weeks. Concerned Salvation Army workers sent him to a doctor and it was then that experts diagnosed his terminal leukodystrophy.

Further tests confirmed that Matthew, who used to work for the snack company Walkers, had the same devastating illness. The neurological disease is fairly common in newborns but affects just 100 adults in Britain. It attacks the brain, nervous system, and spinal cord.

A devastating age-reversing disease has regres

Yaritza Oliva The Woman Who Cries Tears of Blood

2016-01-24T12:08:00.000-08:00

Doctors in Chile have been left stumped after being presented with a patient who apparently cries tears of blood. Yaritza Oliva, a 20-year-old from the city of Purranque, cries blood red tears several times a day after being afflicted by a mysterious condition earlier this month
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After seeking medical assistance, she was prescribed eye drops to ease the burning pain she said was "indescribable." Her local hospital ruled out both an eye infection and conjunctivitis, believing that she may be suffering from a rare condition known as haemolacria, although it has yet to be officially diagnosed.

Several case of haemolacria have surfaced in recent years, although very little is known about the condition or its causes

Little Hayley Okines The Oldest Looking Teenager

2016-01-24T12:06:00.000-08:00

Little Hayley Okines was told that she would not live beyond the age of 13. The youngster suffers from a rare disease called progeria, which turns children old before they have reached their teens. However, having reached her 14th birthday she has defied all odds, and to celebrate she has published her autobiography.

Progeria takes its name from the Greek word "proeros" meaning prematurely old, and involves a mutant protein called progerin that accelerates physical ageing. It ages the body at eight times the normal rate, leaving Hayley with skin that is thin and papery and bones that are fragile. Progeria patients normally die from heart attacks or strokes at an average age of 13.