25 October 2009

OMG... aka Treeman

An Indonesian fisherman who is "half man half tree" has been offered new hope of recovery by an American doctor - and Vitamin A.

32 year old Dede, who lives in a remote village in Indonesia with his two children, feared that he would be killed by the tree like growths that cover his body.

Dedes story began when wart like "roots"  started growing out of his arms and feet after he cut his knee in a teenage accident. The medical world was completely baffled until Dr Anthony Gaspari of the University of Maryland claims to have identified Dede's condition.

Dr Gaspari says his condition is caused by teh Human Papilloma Virus that usually causes smal warts.Dede's problem is that he has a rare genetic fault that impedes his immune system. This means his body is unable to contain the warts. According to Dr. Gaspari, the virus wasable to "hijack the cellular machinery of his skin cells", instructing them  to produce hugeamounts of the substance that caused the tree like growths knows as "cutaneous orns" on both his hands and feet.

Dr Gaspari said that Dede's warts should reduce in size to the point where he can use his hands. 

December 24, 2007


18 comments:

  1. I saw this on Nat Geo..awful....

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  2. wow, amazing, I hope the treatment works.

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  3. I seen the tv show of Dede... interesting case for sure. They found him in a *circus* of folks... with all kinda grave illness. A group of 6, more deformed then the other. His first intervention was about removing the *warts*.... very complex operation.... it didn't work as the warts came back. But for a while, he was able to use his hands... more of less awkwardly. Then they started him on a treatment similar to cancer patients. Last I heard of him... it was working. Dede is a very gentle man... worried his daughter could get the disease. Comes from a very poor village.... he sure got MY attention. Wishing him well.

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  4. Update.

    Dede opted for surgical removal of his warts rather than the treatment described above.

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  5. Update...

    Still looking for an update from 2009.

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  6. so sad..what an awful disease...brave man!

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  7. I saw that on tv here it made my skin crawl, but then i thought that poor man, i believe they said it
    was some kind of a wart., i could be wrong there. Hi Angie, hope all is well there rained like it was never going to stop yesterday , and back to winter clothes today. xx

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  8. Very Brave indeed. I wonder why he chose the surgical method over the Vitimin method.. ??

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  9. Hi Karen, yes yr right,

    "his condition is caused by the Human Papilloma Virus...the virus wasable to "hijack the cellular machinery of his skin cells", instructing them to produce hugeamounts of the substance that caused the tree like growths"

    You have been experiencing summer and winter all in a week there.. oh and dust storms last month.. weird place to live. C'mon over to the South East Coast woman!

    Thanks for leaving word about yr job, Im so pleased for you that yr still working. My hours have been cut back heaps as at the moment the work is sparse. Who knows it may improve, I certainly hope so. Nice to see you Karen take care. Angie

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  10. Until he's cured, he should stay away from dogs and axes ;)

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  11. Sure makes my current problems seem small by comparison.

    --M

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  12. Now see, why do people do that?

    Why belittle your own problems which are huge to you because they're affecting you, just because there are other people out there with their own problems?

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  13. Yes, I also saw a special on him. It was amazing, and the controversy with the Drs from the two countries was terrible. (His country and usa). No one had done anything for him, and a Dr from usa was going to go there and get him, then bring him here and operate on him for free. Meanwhile, the news coverage there created so much controversy that thier Drs heard about it and the gov stepped in and wouldn't allow him to leave, they took him and put him in a hospital claiming that they would do the surgery. It didn't happen, and the surgery they wanted to do wouldn't have been satisfactory anyway, it had been done before and didn't work. He was finally able to come here, and the Dr spent his own money to do this. He had the surgery, well, a few of them, and they had actually sawed off part of the "bark" and then removed most of his facial warts. He was able to text and use his cell. He even had a girlfriend who he wanted to marry. I have no idea what the outcome of all that was.

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  14. Jen.. nice to see you. Thanks so much for your comment.. very informative. I had actually wondered to myself why he had chosen to have surgery as opposed to going to the States for treatment and I figured that perhaps money may have been the deciding factor. In one of the articles I read it claimed that he would have to pay for the treatment himself and his flight etc.. I do plan to do some more digging around to see if there is any updated information also. I seriously hope that no more warts begin to grow. Keep in touch if you hear anything please Jen.

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  15. Sure, I will let you know, but I haven't seen anything yet. This was on one of those medical shows about four or five months ago. But the Dr that treated him (from usa) went there and wanted to work in tandem with his Dr from the hospital. At first they denied him! I think they were embarrassed because no one in his own country would help him, then the press got involved. I wish I could remember the Drs name from here, but it eludes me. He seemed genuinely concerned with giving Dede quality treatment that would be for the long haul, not just a quick one that would allow the warts to grow back, which had happened before. I would love to know if he had actually got married to that gal he was talking/texting to! Wouldn't that be wonderful? I think they said that they had removed something like 15 POUNDS of material from his hands! Can you imagine????
    OH! And when they began to cut through the "horn" or "bark" on his hands? well they found out that they couldn't tell where his bark ended and his fingers began, so that was what had stopped the surgery. He had "paddles" at that point, which was certainly better than those enormous things he has in the pics above. I'm curious too! LOL!

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  16. Here are a few things:

    http://www.thaimed.us/tree-man-returns-home-bark-free-dede_koswara-14-pounds-warts-removed/2008/09/17/

    http://theunexplainedmysteries.com/tree-man.html

    http://www.discoverychannel.co.uk/web/my-shocking-story/episode-guide/half-man-half-tree/

    And finally, this one:
    On August 26, 2008, MSNBC reported that Dede had returned home following surgery to remove thirteen pounds (5.8 kilo) of warts from his body. In all, 95% of the warts were removed. On December 12, 2008, MSNBC reported that his warts had returned and it appears he will need two surgeries a year for the rest of his life to keep them at bay.

    The above was taken from a forum on the DC site, and it was posted by one of the staff. It had a link to the msnbc article, but when I followed it, it said that the page no longer existed or the link was broken. That is it. What I typed into the search engine was Treeman Dede Thailand, and it came up with a ton of stuff, but nothing I could see had dates on them. I'm sure there must be some updated material out there though.

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  17. Hey thanks so much Jen.!!

    Ive checked out the sites you provided but for me the your final lot of information ie: 2 operations a year being required was what I was looking for.. more of an outcome and future diagnosis.

    You know, its stories like this that make me realise that there are so many people who suffer unimagionably through out the world.. really makes me stop and think and give thanks for all my many many blessings.

    Nice to see you too Jen. I will be hopping over to your page and reading all about your scrap booking and sewing etc. I read your blog but I wanted to get back and read through the comments and your replied to your friends.. there is always a wealth of knowledge in the way you reply. Keep safe and well, you and Simone. hugs, Angie

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  18. Well thanks Angie! I try to be respectful to everyone who visits and answer their questions. If they asked, then I want to give them a proper answer! If I don't know, then I just look it up, lol. I think I have gotten better at using more keywords in my searches. Having AOL and dial up both are tedious and nerve-wracking. Niether produces very good results, and I have to dig deep to avoid disappointment, lol. But I try to not let someone just hang there without a response. I get bothered when I go to visit someones site and they never answer anyones questions, just keep posting more blogs. It is also hard for me, because I have times when I go to visit someones page and it won't load, yet I know they have seen me there! I worry that they think I was just to busy to write a comment, lol. That happens alot with dial up too. Pages don't load, or take forever to load, and comments don't post. I have written to multiply about it through my friend Daves page (see keir32, and he has a blog about it that is open to anyone to respond to this issue) I am glad he did that, so maybe we can get the issue fixed, though not everyone is having the issues it seems. Hope you and your family are well also! ZXXZ

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