An Indonesian man suffers from an unusual infection, one which slowly converts his skin into tough, brown, tree-like growths.
This Lovecraftian horror is quite awful:
The welts spread across his body unchecked and soon he was left unable to carry out everyday household tasks.
Sacked from his job and deserted by his wife, Dede has been raising his two children - now in their late teens - in poverty, resigned to the fact that local doctors had no cure for his condition.
To make ends meet he even joined a local "freak show", parading in front of a paying audience alongside victims of other peculiar diseases.
A dermatologist thinks its treatable, being a form of HPV.
(thanks to Len Warner)
I hope the dermatologist can bring him peace and normalcy -- a lot of people around him weren't being very helpful with their cruelty.
Posted by: Alexandra Kitty | February 08, 2008 at 15:14
There's a story to that cruelty, isn't there, Alexandra? Like his wife leaving him.
Reminds me of the Elephant Man, of course.
Posted by: Bryan Alexander | February 11, 2008 at 08:33