Now this is really bizarre.
EXCLUSIVE Deep in wilds of Indonesia sits Dede, a man whose body
is a mass of gnarled root-like growths With his rootlike feet and
gnarled hands, he is known as "The Tree Man".
Living in a remote village in the wilderness of Indonesia,
36-year-old father-of-two Dede has stunned medical experts.
Most of his body is covered in growths which have become so large
and thick they look like twisted tree roots growing out of his
skin.
Dede says his worst fear is that the cruel disorder will kill him
before doctors have a chance to save him.
"I am scared that it will grow across my face and end up covering
it all up," the former construction worker says. "I'm so afraid I
won't be able to see, that I won't be able to eat."
Dede grew up in a tiny hamlet near Bandung, south of Jakarta, the
capital of the volcanic island of Java.
He enjoyed a completely normal childhood, but just after he turned
15 he cut his knee in an accident on a building site.
The injury - not deemed to be at all serious at the time - was to
change his life forever.
Within weeks, a huge growth had emerged from inside his
wound.
He says at first he was not unduly worried, believing it was a wart
which would eventually drop off.
But it didn't. And shortly afterwards, horrific welts started to
spring up all over his body.
"The first one was cut off in an operation, but that didn't stop
it. Instead it just grew back faster.
"Then it started on my foot, then my arms, then my other foot and
then on my head," says Dede.
By the time he had reached his early 20s, he could no longer hold a
tool and struggled to complete basic tasks. He was fired and has
remained unemployed since.
His wife also left him, leaving him to raise their two children,
Entis, now 18, and Entang, 16, on his own.
"I feel sad because my wife left me," says Dede. "And with my
condition I cannot look after my kids. I miss working very much.
But unfortunately I just can't do it."
Unable to work or earn a regular wage like his friends, Dede has
been crippled financially ever since the shocking condition first
took over his body.
And as a single father, he knows he is not only responsible for
himself.
But just washing and getting dressed in the morning have become
virtually impossible for Dede.
He has been helped by his brother-in-law Imun, his parents and his
close friends, who club together to make sure Dede has enough money
to feed himself and his teenage kids each month.
But his support network of friends and family have provided him
with more than just money to survive.
Each morning, family members take turns to put his specially
designed trousers on over his sprawling feet and help him lift a
fresh shirt over his body.
Someone must be around if needs to go to the toilet.
Friends have even designed a huge stool so he can reach his food -
but even this has to be spoon-fed to him twice a day.
Only smoking - he gets through 30 a day - can be enjoyed on his
own, with a special cigarette holder.
Indonesian doctors tried to help him when he was younger with a
series of painful operations, but to no avail. "When I was in
hospital I had some of my growths burnt off and I was injected
several times. I was also given some pills.
"But everything kept growing back after the operations, like just
three weeks later. And they would grow back faster," he says.
http://www.alternative-health.ie/ireland/other/articles/tree-man
