A  US missionary in Romania came across a man who is suffering from a horrible skin condition about a month ago and let WFMU’s Beware of the Blog know about their attempt to treat him under difficult conditions.

Please do not click on the link if you are squeamish. When I was a kid I used to sneak into the utility room and read my moms medical textbooks, her dermatology textbook with it’s pictures fascinated me, I spent hours pouring through it. I have great respect for medical people in this field, and empathy for those so visibly deformed.

Once the story hit the states, ideas poured in on how this missionary (who travelled 16 hours to attempt to treat this man) poured in.  A New York dermatologist may have identified the 38 year old man’s condition.

When his plight was posted the man was taken away by an ambulance the family didn’t request. He was gone for about a month.

 My Romanian contact there was going to return in a week and check on things. When he returned the next week, he found the man was gone. His mother said that on the previous Friday, an ambulance had come to their home (they live in a rural area) and said they had come for him. They loaded him up and took him away. Neither he nor his family had called for an ambulance. He was gone about a month. He is back home now (he returned home just before Easter). He was in a hospital in Bucharest where they mainly did tests, as far as he knew they did not diagnose anything. The medical system here is not very forthcoming with information in general, not just in this case. He thinks that he will be going back in May. They did cut many more of the growths off his hands and they look much better. They did nothing to his feet. I think it is a great improvement. I think what you did on the web sight was very good and helpful, I was impressed. I will send you my newest pictures.”

Romania is now a member of the EU which means he is eligible for the same treatment any EU member is, and the Romanian government may have taken action out of embarrassment.  Romania news picked up his story.

Many commenters at the blog were grossed out, some joked, this man is suffering.

The commenter that may have been most helpful says: “i am a dermatopathologist in new york. this guy has a palmoplantar keratoderma - looks most like “olmsted” to me. hope this helps.”

This is the advantage of the internet, the missionary, the patient and his family benefit by getting the story of his condition out to as many people as possible, enabling diagnosis, and treatment suggestions to  a man who has had no hope.

Picture below the fold. The growths began when he was 14 on his wrists, spreading to his hands, soles of his feet to his ankles and patches below his knees. The efforts of the American missionary and the blogging community have been extraordinary. Let’s hope EU medical experts step up and assist his Romanian doctor.