Video: The tree man
posted at 3:20 pm on November 26, 2007 by Allahpundit
The Sky article’s gotten some attention in headlines so we might as well turn this book into a movie. Here’s a clip, via Weasel Zippers. Ace says he’d have to shun the guy; I confess, I found it difficult just trying to make it through the clip.
Incredibly, one American doctor quoted in the Sky piece thinks his condition can be helped with Vitamin A. Although I’m assuming those hands and feet, or what’s left of them, would have to come off.
Blowback
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Hopefully someone will come to his aid!
Dread Pirate Roberts VI on November 26, 2007 at 3:25 PM
Every tree hugger’s dream……
Hening on November 26, 2007 at 3:28 PM
I saw this the other day. A doctor friend sent it to us saying that it even got to him. I can only hope that showing this very sad video will help bring some relief to this poor guy.
Aggie85 on November 26, 2007 at 3:35 PM
Wicked, rampant keratosis or something similar. Amazing it how far it was allowed to progress.
Just like warts and other growths, it’s theoretically possible the the growths would recede with the right treatment, leaving clear skin underneath.
I hope that the treatment works.
rockbend on November 26, 2007 at 3:36 PM
Great Ceasar’s Ghost!…..I’ll help out….I can see anyone not wanting to help this fella out.
Limerick on November 26, 2007 at 3:36 PM
can’t type today, sorry. :P
rockbend on November 26, 2007 at 3:37 PM
Astonishingly, the Indonesian health minister is miffed because of the American doctor who took a sample of the virus back to the US to study it for a cure for this poor guy.
She’s worried that Indonesia is being “exploited”.
flipflop on November 26, 2007 at 3:37 PM
Maybe…but I haven’t seen anything where any doctor or anybody mentions that as a possibility. I mean, they’re tecnically warts, right? So maybe his limbs can be saved.
JetBoy on November 26, 2007 at 3:37 PM
Thats what happens when you drink out of hotel bathroom glasses!!!
Zetterson on November 26, 2007 at 3:41 PM
Oh…it’s apparently called Lewandowsky-Lutz dysplasia. Rare, but it’s happened before. This guy looks like the worst case tho.
JetBoy on November 26, 2007 at 3:41 PM
Stupid f(*^9% moron!! Wake the f up please!! How about you let us help this poor man and then after that we can just give you all the credit. How’s that sound you heartless POS?
Zetterson on November 26, 2007 at 3:43 PM
I thought the Human Papilloma virus is an STD. That’s the one they want all the little girls to get vaccinated for to prevent cervical cancer-right?
NTWR on November 26, 2007 at 3:44 PM
Yup, there’s a big demand for that kind of deformity here in the US. I guess when so much of your population is under- or un-educated, you have to put morons into high positions.
ej_pez on November 26, 2007 at 3:44 PM
Surreal, tragic, a living nightmare in flesh and blood.
Hopefully the publicity of his dire case will bring those who can help him to his side, treat him and return him to a normal life.
fogw on November 26, 2007 at 3:48 PM
PMP
peed/my/pants
subbottomfeeder on November 26, 2007 at 3:50 PM
I’m just trying to imagine this poor bastard trying to get through Homeland Security.
Blaise on November 26, 2007 at 4:00 PM
I’m outraged that the British Health Service or the Canadian National Health Service couldn’t help this man! It’s just wrong that he has to rely upon the greedy and profit-driven American health care system! Stuff like this just makes him an unwitting stooge of “Big Pharma.”
/Sarcasm off…
Anton on November 26, 2007 at 4:01 PM
HPV is probably most commonly recognized in the form(s) genital warts and/or skin lesions. Dunno the exact figures, but a good hunk of cervical cancers are a result of untreated HPV (not to mention cancers of the mouth and … well, guys … be concerned if you see anything out of the norm, ahem).
But, with any other type of virus, if you don’t treat it, or even if you do, the virus can go seriously ape-sh*t on ya’.
Which seems exactly like what happened to this poor guy.
The Indonesian Health Minister should be bent out of shape over this. How can you possibly let something like this occur on your watch? This guy should have been hospitalized a LONG time ago.
HPV is contagious, after all.
I know I wouldn’t touch the guy.
Still, it’d be nice if Vitamin A could clear up the skin, but, I’m afraid what you’re going to find underneath is probably some aggressive, highly advanced and wholly inoperable form of cancer.
Not to be a downer, but it’s amazing that he’s lived, this long.
yo on November 26, 2007 at 4:12 PM
Nice job tying back to a previous thread!
flipflop on November 26, 2007 at 4:13 PM
Thanks for the info, yo.
NTWR on November 26, 2007 at 4:15 PM
Actually, on re-read, I didn’t answer your questions. Yes, HPV is/can be considered an STD, and yes, this is the same HPV that little girls are being targeted for immunization.
(I got caught up in my own verbose crapulence – sorry ’bout that).
yo on November 26, 2007 at 4:20 PM
Send the government a buck and thank them for still being a backward and useless country, then send Dede a monthly royalty check.
Dusty on November 26, 2007 at 4:23 PM
Very interesting.
I hope he gets effective treatment.
TheSitRep on November 26, 2007 at 4:59 PM
I just hope he uses his powers for good and not evil. Think about it, this guy would make an awesome SNIPER!
Tony737 on November 26, 2007 at 5:27 PM
Sad. I passed on the vid. His condition is not a lack
of government OR private healthcare. It’s a lack of “Healthcare” period!!
gary on November 26, 2007 at 5:45 PM
This just gave me chills. Poor guy. Hope he gets a treatment that works.
tickleddragon on November 26, 2007 at 6:22 PM
Any Dr’s out there that know what this is ? ?
Very difficult to watch. I only got through 30 sec of it.
Texyank on November 26, 2007 at 6:47 PM
I can only assume he will go to Cuba for treatment, seeing as Cuban healthcare is superior to the USA, according to Michael Moore.
Neo on November 26, 2007 at 7:36 PM
I read about this somewhere else. The article reported he could be completely healed with massive vitamin A treatments. The doctor in the article was looking for the money to bring him back to the US for treatment.
JellyToast on November 26, 2007 at 7:44 PM
Sad… just very sad.
MsUnderestimated on November 26, 2007 at 7:59 PM
He was so typically soft spoken, it was hard to hear his words. Indonesians are amazing to me in the way they don’t complain about even horrendous difficulties.
TexasDan on November 26, 2007 at 10:21 PM
It’s worse than just not allowing samples out for study, which apparently were stolen anyway by the American doctor. The authorities say they have no intention of permitting Dede to travel abroad. The assertion made by the head of DEPKES is that, as a simple country lad, Dede “wouldn’t want to be taken anywhere, let alone have his blood sample taken. Usually (slum dwellers) aren’t willing to give permission to foreigners to take their blood.”
She’s afraid some other country will get the glory, and revenue, from finding the cause and cure to his disease. And she’s willing to let Dede rot in torment to prevent it from happening.
TexasDan on November 26, 2007 at 10:34 PM
HPV caused that??? I am never having unprotected sex again.
krabbas on November 26, 2007 at 10:41 PM
If he could figure out how to fire the weapon without functioning fingers maybe…
krabbas on November 26, 2007 at 10:43 PM
Maybe with a blow-gun and some poisoned darts. The daughter looked pretty chilled, and had empathy for the dad. The son, sad to say, looked liked he wanted to be someone else’s. A look like that could be worse than all that other shite that Dede’s dealing with.
Lord what a “developing world” pimp that health minister is. Ok, she’s a woman; I meant pimp in the Sharptonian sense of the word–as in race-pimp.
smellthecoffee on November 26, 2007 at 11:25 PM
I would gladly make a donation; this is just too awful.
Kensington on November 27, 2007 at 12:05 AM
I say fake. No offense to people with horrible afflictions but come on. Unless you’ve been looking at liveleak, and shock sights for many years you might not spot it.
Just like the dog shot by deputy… don’t believe that one either.
As they used to say, “You can’t believe everything you read in the papers”… well its 2007. Websites make tons of money getting hits on videos like this and yea.. they are fun and just because they use that serious British accent (kristian amanpur anyone?) does not mean your being told the truth.
Stop beleiving everything you see and hear and even feel.. I’m actually emabarrassed at some of you HA heads.
amend2 on November 27, 2007 at 1:36 AM
it’s not a fake. google “manusia pohon”, or follow some of the other links above.
Hope you have some good crow recepies.
TexasDan on November 27, 2007 at 9:55 AM
Well I hate to look too stupid but for humanitarian reasons I have to share my cure for plantar’s warts:
Put a square of common duct tape over the wart. Every few days remove the tape and give the skin a breather for a day before re-applying fresh tape. After a week the wart reduces dramatically and after 6 – 8 weeks the wart goes away. Use the tape that has the duck on the package. Cheap imitations may have different glues
This guy has different warts but it could work. Obviously we can’t wrap the whole guy, but rhey ought to try a spot on his face before those warts take over
entagor on November 27, 2007 at 12:29 PM