Man Turning Into A Tree
Posted by LayGuy on Nov 15, 2007 in Real Life Stories | 33 commentsWhen you think of your family tree, you don’t usually think of a literal “family tree” do you? Well most people wouldn’t – but unfortunately for one family in Indonesia, they do.
Meet ‘Dede’ – a 35 year old father of two living in poverty in a remote village in Indonesia.
Dede grew up normal, but at 15, he had an accident where he cut his knee. From then on, warts and welts started taking over his body and have simply kept on growing to what resembles “bark like” qualities.
His wife bolted leaving him to look after his two kids. As his condition worsened, Dede became completely dependant on others for even the most mundane tasks in life – such as putting on clothing.
When he cut his knee as a teen, a virus entered his body – HPV. Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is the bug which commonly causes warts and other skin diseases. Those of us who had or have warts can usually fight off this bug with our immune systems.
But in Dede’s case, things get a little more complicated. He suffers from a rare genetic fault which renders his immune system void in helping stop the spread of this virus through his body. The video clip below demonstrates the shattering reality of this in Dede’s life.
An American dermatologist, Dr Anthony Gaspari of the University of Maryland, has come to the aid of Dede after being exposed to the story on Discovery Channel.
Gaspari believes daily doses of Vitamin A could drastically reverse the growth of warts to the point where Dede can use his own hands. The rest of the growth can be frozen and then surgically removed. This is great news for Dede as his greatest worry is not seeing his children grow old and not meeting his grand children.
I’m stoked for Dede and am moved by Gaspari’s determination to treat this guy. This story is about to go live as the Discovery Channel “My Shocking Story” series, and will be shown on the Discovery Channel at 9pm on Nov 15. For more details visit the programme’s website.
Already the cruel blog world is making fun of this story calling Dede a freak and using all manner of puns to put him down. He has suffered enough in his life and my hope is that one day, he will be cured of this disease.
Tags: Dede, Tree Man, HPV, Human Papillomavirus, Discovery Channel, Warts
i feel for Dede, and glad that someone is trying to help him out, can’t wait to see the results, can’t believe the idiots who seem to degrade others, even in this world of online access.. it seems that doesn’t improve the character of some ppl.
Dude Dede is so awesome I wish I could be a tree man
Well that doesn't say much for your intelligence then does it!
this is as reminder for us, that there is something out there.
That's got to be one of the most ridiculous comments I've read!
My heart aches for Dede. Just saw the program on TLC and it’s heartbreaking to see the plight of others. I would encourage you who are able bodied to thank the Lord for the blessing of good health.
I saw the story. It amazes me that there is such a condition as turning into a tree. I have seen people with hairy skin, fish skin, alligator skin, but this is the worst. God bless Dede I will pray for him and his family. The TLC program says he hasn’t started the therapy. I am sure he is scared of not being completely healed and no longer being able to work as a performer and being caught in between. May God and the doctors heal him.
I need to do a report and this has inspired me. i now want to tell the world of this and what a rairity and serious thing it actually is. Someone help me i need to know is it just a HPV virus mutation or something else.
i think it is sad people treatin him dat way i hope they find da cure with a serious face i wouldn’t leave him i would have stayed beside him cause love cures everything and with the help of the lord everythin is possible so im showin love 4 him at least sumone is
This is really sad and I hope that things can be made better for his man. His wife is a chicken and doesn’t deserve a man so selfless as to work at such a humiliating job to support those he loves.
Go ahead with yourelf Dede, you’re a true hero!
What has happened with this guy did he eventually decide to try the treatment? It is too bad if he is too scared to try. Is the Dr. under the impression that his treatment will be nearly entirely effective?
i think that it is a very rare thing but i’m glad his kids stuck around. and that some one else in the world is helping him. i hope he does super well, and my prayers go out to him and his family.
seeing the plight of treeman i feel very sorry for this man. for every problem there is a cure but in this condition the process of this cure may not be known. but i suggest if some consult some one who is mastered in VEDAS he may able to get the cure. for this he has to consult someone in india,specially places like VARANASI,UJJAIN,KERALA. MAY BE IF I FIND SOMEONE WHO IS ABLE TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM I WILL DEFINITELY LET THIS KNOW ABOUT THAT
Hi Sunil – thanks for stopping by. Respectfully I disagree with you. Dede needs Jesus.
For those who haven’t seen it, there is now a follow up program being televised, Treeman: Search for a Cure, or something like that. I watched it just the other night, and it follows Dede through a series of treatments. Dr. Gaspari remains involved and travels to Indonesia. Fascinating. Though to clarify, he is not turning into a tree. It’s a severe and slightly different case of human papilloma virus, or warts. It just happens to look tree-like.
I TOTALLY AGREE WITH “KELLY” WHEN SHE SAYS THAT HIS WIFE WAS A CHICKEN….THEN AGAIN IF I WERE HER,I WOULD BE SCARED FOR MY HUSBAND (NOT OF HIM). BUT IF SHE REALLY LOVED HIM AND THEIR CHILDREN, THEN SHE COULD NOT HAVE JUST GOTTEN UP AND LEFT LIKE SHE DID…MAYBE IT IS FOR THE BEST THAT SHE LEFT THEM.
Hey you guys. Yeah, I saw both of the TLC shows on Dede. I’m just a little confused on the whole governmental side of it. What’s up with that? Is it a territorial thing, about money or because the help is coming from the US? Strange. Anyway, if it is about money, maybe we can set up a fundraiser to get Dede over here for treatment. Anyone else game? I completely agree with the medical treatment that Dr. Gaspari would like to help him with. Degloving his hands, like I saw for another patient, would NOT work. It has to be a treatment from the inside out. Anyway, I hope Dede knows how many people care for him and are praying for him.
Saw a pic of this before and thought it was fake, so i looked it up anyway, just reading about it now and watched that video. I feel for the guy, i can’t even begin to imagine what that must be like. Really hope he can be cured or at least be able to live a normal life on meds. Good luck Dede!
Big respect to Dr. Gaspari.
may god bless u. i prayed fr u. god is there, he will surely help though lately bt surely
get cured fast DD and many blessings for the doctors who are working on this..
Nearly every comment; God bless you, God will help you, I’m praying for you, He needs Jesus…
God made him that way in the first place, he is the last thing the poor guy should be looking at for salvation.
God didn't MAKE this happen to him. God doesn't make anyone ill or anything like this happen to someone. Things like this JUST HAPPENS. Don't bring God into this situation at all. Most people in India are not Christians and do not recognize God as God. They worship many gods and he has probably been calling on many of those for healing. The God that made the world, the God who allowed His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for Dede, you and me may not have been invited into this situation yet at all.
God can heal him tomorrow if He was asked to, but it is all according to the purpose of his illness. We don't know why it happened, but we know that "all things work together for good," and God did not cause this, but He can use this to bring him closer to God, bring his family to God, or even bring the world closer to God once again, by showing His miracles and His Healing Powers, if that's the purpose of his illness, who are we to be blaming God?
God has to be invited and brought into the situation, that is why everyone is praying for Dede. We are all praying that God will reach down and heal him, that God will touch his life, and even restore his family if that is what Dede wants. God can do anything He desires, but God doesn't make people sick, just to be making them sick. That would not be a sovereign or loving God at all.
To Syntax Era:
When you live your life and don’t know/believe about God then things/events happen to you that God ‘lets’ happen. If you believe in Him He blesses you and protects you. He lets certain bad things happen to you when you are wayward from following his path to heaven and forgiveness in order to make you understand or push you in the right direction to be faithfull and obedient again. There are many instances in the bible for reference to this.
I hope you understand what I’m saying and not just try to be combative.
DD, get well if it’s Gods will.
God doesn't "let" things happen to you when you don't believe in Him. He says in His word, He don't even know you. God knows us as mankind in totality, but until you "Call on the Name of the Lord, and you will be saved…" Romans 10:13 God doesn't know you as a person, intimately as His child until you accept Him as your savior. Just like Dede, he is sick cause he fell and cut open his knee at 15 and the illness got in that way, because of the unsanitary conditions in India, NOT because God wanted to be mean to a 15 year old kid for "not believing, or not knowing" God at that time, many don't know God at 15.
You will receive your punishment from God in eternity, God doesn't take his time messing with you and your mind while you are here on earth, before you are His child.
You have bad things happen to you, I have bad things that happen to me, as a child of God, whether I am walking with God or "being wayward" as you put it, but it doesn't mean God is doing it. Things happen when you are walking closely with God too, it isn't just when you are running away from Him. There are a lot of forces out there you don't see, and sometimes things happen to us by our own free will and decisions we make for ourselves. We never know a reason why, until God reveals it to you someday. But God doesn't make people sick, just be making them sick. He isn't like that, and when you are not His child, you will face that in the Judgment, not here.
Spawn:
The sins of the fathers come to mind. The nations where there is widespread hunger, disease and poverty. Whole nations that denounced God long ago who still today pay for their choice. But Dede needs God like the rest of the world. It’s sad to see so many turn away from their maker. The time draws near.
I first heard about Dede by watching a tv show. I hope the doctors are able to fully help him.
I saw the program about The Tree Man having his surgery.Over Tv. I never knew things like this happened to people. My heart aches for him. I am praying for a complete healing for him. God can do miracles.
Paster Didi.
jeez!.oh my gosh!.
and that bitch(his 'wife') left him when he need help the most also!.
that's hella messed up!.
this story really opened my heart i really think Dede can make it because i bet he was a very strong man before this happened to him. : ( GOD BLESS YOU DEDE..
AND BLESS HIS KIDS TOO!!!!!!!!!!
You know I think about Dede and that this virus has ran his life since 15 yrs old. This is so sad. In case you don't know, HPV is so serious, you can be a carrier of it and not even know it, if you are a man with HPV you put your wife into serious danger of getting Cervical Cancer and have no idea you even have the virus. So many think that it is not very common around here anymore, that not very many people in the US get this type of disease, but it isn't just a "poor" person's disease or as I learned when I was a teenager, that it was only a sexually transmitted disease, which is also a falsehood.
You can get it that way, but you can just be a carrier, or like Dede, you can get it through the unsanitary conditions where you live, and it can affect your entire life and affect your family. I just never believed to this caliber. We protect our daughters with the HPV vaccine through our Dr.s, but little did we know, we should be careful not to get it through other means as well.
This was an amazing story and very important, thank you for sharing this with us. My heart and prayers go out for Dede. And I have seen him since his treatments with the good Dr., but they weren't able to remove everything, he still has a lot of the warts and his hands are still covered, even though they were able to remove the barklike ones from his hands and feet. His story was on Dr. Oz last week, he had an amazing update about Dede.
We have to remember that she may not be as strong as he is, she was also at risk for serious medical problems by having relations with him and having kids with him if he was in an outbreak situation when they were together. Maybe she was mad, maybe she was scared of getting sick herself, we don't know why she left.
We should pray for her that she would be strengthened and try to think about her too. Do I think leaving was right? NO for better or worse, in sickness and HEALTH, is very important part of the vows to me, trust me, I am so glad that my husband hasn't given up on me because of my illnesses, but some people think, it will all be okay, I can live with his illness, but they don't realize just how BAD it can get, and it is too much for them because they are not strong enough.
I am sure she didn't make this decision easily or lightly, especially because she left her children behind. There has to be more about this than what little was in the article, because it is not easy to leave when children are involved, but to leave them with him… that is the hardest thing ever.