Nobody has it easy these days, not even actors and actresses. The one thing that keeps us all trudging along though is hope, whether that hope entails faith in a returning Messiah, dreams of fame or fortune, or just the anticipation of a hot meal at the local homeless shelter.
Sometimes though, we become so enamored with our own burdens that we lose sight of hope. Perhaps the following stories of brave, albeit unfortunate souls will help relieve these burdens by reminding us that things could always be far worse.
CHINA
The Horny Grandma
Granny Zhao — as she is formerly known — is an elderly lady from Zhanjiang who sports her own horn. According to her family, the horn appeared approximately 3 years ago as just a tiny mole; but unlike a mole, it never stopped growing.
It now juts out from the middle of her forehead, which in turn has affected her vision: “It causes me no discomfort, but blocks part of my view.”
Meet Liu Hau from Jiangsu. Since birth, Hau’s left hand has been plagued with a ridiculously over-sized thumb, index finger, and middle finger. This condition is formerly known as macrodactyly, and is a form of local gigantism.
Hau underwent surgery at a Shanghai hospital in late 2007, during which approximately 5.1kg of flesh & bone were removed.
The Tree-Trunk Leg
Chen Zongtao has never once performed a squat; yet, his body houses a leg that weighs over 150 pounds just by itself. The growth originally began on Chen’s right foot when he was just a child, but soon spread to his entire right leg. Years later and the colossal leg has left Chen unable to get up, let alone just walk through his own home.
Doctors say that he suffers from neurofibroma, a nerve-based tumor that is typically benign. It is not known for certain whether he ever received treatment for his condition.
Pictured above is Huang Chuncais, better known as the ‘Chinese Elephant Man.’ He suffers from a form of elephantiasis that has over the years morphed into a giant 15kg tumor so heavy that it pulls his facial skin downward.
After a long and troubling life that has made it difficult for Huang to just sip on some soup, he was finally offered free assistance from the doctors at the Fuda Cancer Hospital in Guangzhou.
Below is a picture of Huang taken in January 2008 after his second surgery.
INDIA
The Man With A Twin
One might suspect that Nagpur resident Sanju Bhagat is a serious alcoholic with an enormous beer belly; but that, I assure you, is far from the truth. Throughout his life, the 36-year-old farmer just figured he was the victim of a tumor.
During an evening in June 1999, however, doctors attempting to remove the bulge discovered that Sanju’s stomach contained the dead body of his barely developed twin brother instead.
The bundle of joy pictured above lying by her Mother is Lakshmi Tatma, a charming young damsel who was born with 4 legs and 4 arms. The condition came about when her ‘parasistic twin’ stopped developing in her mother’s womb. Lakshmi’s body absorbed the remaining limbs, resulting in her being born a human octupus, per se.
Many in India were shocked to the core by her birth, as they believed her to be the reincarnation of the eight-limbed Hindu God Lakshmi. After two years, she finally received surgery for her condition, and now lives her life as a normal child.
INDONESIA
The Indonesian Tree Man known as Dede suffers from a combination of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and a genetic disorder. The result has been a nonstop growth of bark-like warts that have gradually been taking over his body.
Despite being constantly taunted, losing his job, and having his wife desert him, Dede has continued on as the proud father of two children. This dedicated Papa was finally rewarded for his perseverance by an American doctor who promised a cure.
VIETNAM
The Gigantic Face
Little Lai Ti Dao is a petite girl who suffered from a Schwannoma tumor, which initially began as a mere lump in her throat, but then blew up into an over-sized tumor that threatened to kill her.
Not only was it so large that Lai could barely walk, but it was gradually cutting off her airway as well. Thankfully, she was flown out to Miami in 2008 and finally, after a 10-hour surgery, freed of 10 pound tumor.
The Conehead
Nguyen Xuan Minh was only 5 years old when the picture above was taken at the Tu Du Hospital in 2005. His unknown condition features an elongated head with bulging eyes, but has doctors baffled as to why.
Most people believe that Nguyen is likely an unfortunate victim of the defoliant Agent Orange, which was used by American forces during the Vietnam war.
Due to his parents’ exposure to the chemical, Nguyen was born deformed and will likely live the rest of his life as such.
The Stunted Fingers
Le Thi Hoa is yet another young soul deformed from exposure to Agent Orange. She was born with stunted fingers; that, however, has not stopped her from writing with ‘excellent penmanship.’
Sadly, both Le and Nguyen are two out of hundreds of thousands of victims who must deal with the long-lasting effects of Agent Orange. For more details, please view the video below.
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Mariko
As an American, I feel ashamed and feel that more needs to be done to help. I know the effects weren't known when they used it, and they thought it was the best route, but now that we know the effects of the chemicals, and what it has done we need to take responsibility for what happened at that time.
The ambassador said that it was settled in the late 70s, all the war/peace negotiations, but no one knew what the chemicals effects on the innocent human populace would be at that time. Things changed, and so do our responsibilities to that country and it's peoples.
kan
cant agree more
Anon
America barely takes care of many of it's own soldiers and 911 service members, I can't see them voluntarily helping… unless they found lots of oil there.
kaze
not only were these people effected but the soilders too
Mariko
That true. And I know my friend's father was affected by Agent Orange and passed away ago due to health complications that doctors think was caused by Agent Orange, and while the family still gets a small amount of money from the Government because of the loss of their Father, it never replaces them. And I think we NEED to take some action and help. It's our responsibility. But, I know it's wishful thinking. The government will wait for some volunteers to go help instead. They won't do anything at all.
Anon
I would be careful about assuming that agent orange is responsible for this. Many of the Vietnamese "studies" done on this were not controlled at the best, and pure propaganda at the worst. A study by Dr. J. M. Friedman of the Division of Clinical Genetics at the University of Texas/Southwestern Medical School concluded: "TCDD and 2,4,5-T are teratogenic in mice and perhaps in other mammals, but the teratogenicity of these chemicals has not been convincingly demonstrated in humans. There is currently no scientific evidence which indicates that men who were previously exposed to Agent Orange are at increased risk of having children with birth defects, but available data are inadequate to assess this possibility critically."
(http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/110506…
These myths on birth defects by Dr. Jon Aase of the University of New Mexico Children's Hospital are also relevant: http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2007/02/great…
It's still a possibility that AO could have caused those defects, but it has certainly not been proven. In any event, one good piece of news is that "extensive research has found that in the areas that were sprayed by Agent Orange during the war no longer contain measurable amounts of dioxin and do not pose a health threat" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange).
AMC
Nothing is ever "proven." It's not proven you get heart disease from eating steak 5X a week or that you will be diabetic from eating chocolate every day. Studies connect probabilities and associate coincidences attributing them to probably "cause." Given that areas sprayed with toxic chemicals also happen to have the highest rate of birth defects and health deformities lead us to believe that one causes the other. So if the gov't is going to tell us follow the U.S.D.A. food pyramid based on study findings, then they should also believe dioxins cause cancer, which is caused by immune dysfunction and help the crippling/dying Vietnamese who were exposed to dioxins caused by the U.S. gov't.
Anon
This study in the peer-reviewed scientific journal "International Journal of Epidemiology" (http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/35/5/1230.full) states the following: "…we are not convinced that Vietnamese investigations linking congenital malformations to dioxin are, as yet, more than suggestive." It goes on to say "This article and its novel approach confirm the need for continued rigorously controlled research to definitively answer the question posed at the opening of this commentary [dealing with the effects of Agent Orange]. To date the answer is, at best, scientifically equivocal and, at worst, without valid positive scientific evidence."
This article reviewed a large number of research on Agent Orange, yet found the data inconclusive. Most studies done that establish a casual link have been done by Vietnamese scientists, and have NOT been peer-reviewed (other scientists aren't given a chance to review their work). To make a blanket statement like "Agent Orange causes deformities" is simply not verifiable.
Michael Stewart
If the studies are done from the USA and funded by the government than the study in biased. The USA would do everything it can to cover up its human rights abuses.
Anon
Lakshmi has eight ARMS not legs. There are no Hindu gods with multiple legs.
miss le
that is so terrible!! i never knew of agent orange or what it did to vietnam….
joE
OMG !!! the upper-ups who thought of this herbicidal warfare is so heartless,,,,,,
after i read this article, i looked up in internet and i found out that they were not only using agent orange only !!!
the operation is called rainbow warfare programme, using many types of herbicide.
so they were using agent pink, agent purple, and agent green, agent blue, agent white, etc !!!! F !!!
here is the reference :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Herbicides
i really am sad and angry watching that video above, just how heartless american government can be…
please be responsible with your action !!!! sigh…..
( no offense to american citizen )
Vsaxena
Thank You @ Anon! I'll make sure to correct that as soon as possible.
Vsaxena
It is indeed a sad 'game' @ Kavita's Mother. But it is more than a game: it is truth. It is the unfortunate and almost unbelievable truth that lies right before us, yet remains so invisible. It is so so so sad. But what can do we, besides give them honor? We must wait for science to do the rest.
kavita mathur
Sometimes even nature plays a game, but these pics show that someone wicked to d core is casting a spell on d nature to play with people's lives…….a horrible game……..
Hypnotherapy
More will be done will surly be done over the next few years, through media and knowledge. I spoke to a guy on a < href="http://www.absolutemind.co.uk/training/hypnosis-training/">hypnotherapy training course and he was speaking about birth defects and how the technologies and understanding how we can help people live their lives the way they deserve.
steve-o
dude. fucked up shit mannnn. we dont need pictures of peoples deformations reminding us our fore fathers are dick holes, fuck you. and youre chemicals and little dicks.
Eddle
…and of course the child in India is hailed as some kind of reincarnation of a god. Cause every child with a birth defect is hailed as a reincarnation of a god.
That aside, I think it's great that a lot of these people got to live their lives normally despite these setbacks.
naomz
im curious about the guy with a twin, wouldn't it poison him that a dead body has been living inside his own body for years????
anyway, seeing these pictures makes me feel ashamed whenever i complain about my zits.
verer
hahahahahahahahaha this is so funn