Tree Man of Indonesia

This guy needs to stop eating fiber and plant foods. A new diet of "RoundUp" would do him wonders. He however provides a new meaning to "getting a woody"!

Jesus

I wonder if he's ever used the line "I'm hard as a log, baby."

Walks off, head down in shame

ON the discovery health channel they showed this guy in surgery for like 14 hours or something. Each blob has its own blood supply and they had to do many surgeries over a period of months to help him. This photo is probably old cause the video of his surgery has his eyes almost enclosed in warts. It is very sad.

Geez, I can imagine it being bad since it's like amputating a part of your body every time they remove one of those things.

Really makes you feel lucky for not being like that though.

Okay this guy most assuredly was/is a Capitalist right! He obviously has more than his "fair share" of warts!

Those are warts all over him? That is very depressing. I hope his surgery went well.

News
Treatment not working for Indonesia's Tree Man
Friday, 13 February 2009

Failed treatment: Dede Koswara, 38, dubbed Tree Man sits on his bed at a hospital in Bandung on February 9, 2009. He underwent a ninth round of surgery on February 12 to remove more of the growths, doctors said.

Credit: AFP

JAKARTA: An Indonesian dubbed 'Tree Man' because of massive bark-like warts all over his body underwent a ninth round of surgery on Thursday to remove more of the growths, a doctor said.

Dede Koswara, 38, had extensive treatment last year for the first time to cut off 13.2 kg of the fast-growing warts, but the doctor warned Thursday they are rapidly growing back.

Koswara's condition has been diagnosed by a U.S. dermatologist as a genetic defect that means his body is unable to stop the growth of warts caused by the human papilloma virus (see, 'Tree Man' barred from treatment in U.S., Cosmos Online).

No cure

It had initially been hoped that treatment with doses of vitamin A would check the growths, which have led to Koswara being abandoned by his wife and unable to care for his two children, but that now appears not to be the case.

"No cure for the disease exists yet, so he needs operations every three to four months because the warts keep on growing," said Rachmatdinata, director of Hasan Sadikin Hospital in Bandung city, West Java.

Despite this, "Dede's in good physical condition, better than before since he's quit smoking," he said.

Treatment last year allowed Koswara to use his hands and move with relative freedom for the first time in years – the thick warts are clustered most densely around his feet and hands, though they cover his whole body.

Seven surgeons worked for four hours in the latest operation to remove 1.4 kg of the thick growths, which have drawn worldwide attention to the villager.

Before surgery in August last year, the condition also left Koswara unable to bathe himself or work, except in a travelling "freak show".

If he has to continually have this surgery every few months until a cure is found, and he hasn't been able to work, how is he paying for the surgeries and how is he supporting himself and his family?

Gidget wrote:

Let me guess - Universal Healthcare!

Are these really your questions? 40% of Indonesia's hospitals are government-owned and I lost my link so I can't post the amount of university hospitals, so I am betting that either by virtue of the industry or the research potential, his care is pro bono. His wife left him, and I am not keen on his culture and how they deal with support of family.

And his wife left him! Real poor guy. It really is a wonder how he supports himself and his family, noh?

Yes, they were really my questions. I certainly feel for the man, but as someone who spent years paying off medical bills from a single major surgey and hospital stay, I naturally wonder how someone with his limited means is paying for the multiple surgeries and supporting his family.

I assumed that the initial surgeries would be paid for by those doing research on the disease, but once they found out that it didn't work and that he would need multiple surgeries every few months for the forseeable future I wonder if they really would be willing to do that pro-bono.

And that doesn't answer how he supports himself and his children. Does Indonesia have a form of welfare?

One would think that the x-wife would or should provide some support for the children if the man has them in his care.

Didn't the article indicate he was employed in a "freak show"? A job is a job and one is always best to capitalize on their natural gifts!

Poor guy should move to America where he can receive free medical and welfare benefits - better yet he should sneak in and really cash in on all the freebies!

Oh god! really pathetic .How it is possible? better he can go for surgery.

As I recall (I watched the show about him and several others), the government would not allow a US doctor that had been studying him to figure out a plan of attack on his problems to contact him or visit him after the story was broadcast--read that it shined the government in a bad light because of the health care problems.  Against the doctor's findings, the government decided to go ahead and attempt to remove warts, but they grow back very quickly.  The doctor was in the process of finding some type of medicine combination to treat before he was barred.

People may complain about the USA's health care, but are there these sorts of issues here?  Why were there so many within this one country (according to the show I'd watched).

Even a small mark in our face, we will feel for our beauty spoiled. How his face and body is like this? The government and doctors should help him for his recovery.

We'll he is on the discovery channel and they are helping him on this disease and he is slowy recuperating and kudos to those people who are helping him and at last he can be normal again.

I saw the first television programme about him and his other 'strange' friends on a documentary. In that instance he didn't want to find a cure for his condition as he was part of a freak show at that was how he earned his money.

 

He argued that if he was 'normal' he would have no skills or experience to find a good paying job. I suppose you can understand where he is coming from on that one.

thats very pathetic

And good also that at least he have managed to earn his livelihood from the TV shows so that he and his family can survive at least