When 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
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