Tree Man returns!
Dec 19, 2008 19:59:41 GMT -5
Post by The Jewish Cunthead on Dec 19, 2008 19:59:41 GMT -5
Linky
Remember this cat?
He wants to get married? I know the PERFECT girl for him.
Remember this cat?
Dede Koswara, who is in his late 30s, had more than a stone of warts cut from his body earlier this year and the former fisherman hoped to live independently for the first time since the cutaneous horns sprouted when he was a teenager.
On being discharged from hospital in September, Dede showed off his new ability to grip a pen, a feat that had been made impossible by the foot-long "roots" that previously covered his hands.
But the growths have now begun to return to his hands and feet, closing up the gaps between his digits leaving him unable to carry out basic tasks.
He manages at to smoke at his village on the outskirts of Bandung in West Java by balancing the cigarette between his first and middle finger, but has lost most of his dexterity.
Dede's plight came to the attention of the world last year after Telegraph.co.uk reported on an American doctor who claimed to have identified his condition, and proposed a treatment that could transform his life.
The tree-like welts covering his body were caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) which defects in Dede's immune system left him unable to fight, according to Dr Anthony Gaspari of the University of Maryland.
After the publicity generated by the article and a television documentary, the Indonesian government intervened to fast-track his treatment.
Dede went under the knife for his first operation in January. When Telegraph.co.uk spoke to him in hospital in March he described the pleasure of being able to walk without pain for the first time in 20 years.
He also expressed his hopes for the future. "What I really want first is to get better and find a job. But then, one day, who knows? I might meet a girl and get married," he said.
When he left hospital doctors warned that the warts may grow back, but his condition is no longer life threatening.
On being discharged from hospital in September, Dede showed off his new ability to grip a pen, a feat that had been made impossible by the foot-long "roots" that previously covered his hands.
But the growths have now begun to return to his hands and feet, closing up the gaps between his digits leaving him unable to carry out basic tasks.
He manages at to smoke at his village on the outskirts of Bandung in West Java by balancing the cigarette between his first and middle finger, but has lost most of his dexterity.
Dede's plight came to the attention of the world last year after Telegraph.co.uk reported on an American doctor who claimed to have identified his condition, and proposed a treatment that could transform his life.
The tree-like welts covering his body were caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) which defects in Dede's immune system left him unable to fight, according to Dr Anthony Gaspari of the University of Maryland.
After the publicity generated by the article and a television documentary, the Indonesian government intervened to fast-track his treatment.
Dede went under the knife for his first operation in January. When Telegraph.co.uk spoke to him in hospital in March he described the pleasure of being able to walk without pain for the first time in 20 years.
He also expressed his hopes for the future. "What I really want first is to get better and find a job. But then, one day, who knows? I might meet a girl and get married," he said.
When he left hospital doctors warned that the warts may grow back, but his condition is no longer life threatening.
