The 26-year-old man suffers from a rare condition known as “tree man illness,” and has now had the first of a number of surgeries.
A rare skin disease left Abul Bajandar with warts on his body that have grown so large they look like tree bark. The surgeries are supposed to help cure his condition after removing the growths, which have seen him dubbed “Tree Man,” according to Reuters.
First successful operation to remove warts from “Tree Man”
“We operated on him once and we may be operate more ten to twelve operations. In the meantime we sent the tissue, culture and blood to America for some sort of diagnosis and waiting for this. Our final goal is to operate on both hand and to stop the recurrence of the disease,” explains plastic surgeon Samanta Lal Sen.
The operation involved a team of 9 doctors, who worked for approximately three hours on his right hand. It is thought that Bajandar is only the fourth person in history that has suffered from the condition, which is known as Epidermodysplasia Verruciformis,
On the eve of the operation, Bajandar could hardly believe his luck. “I don’t think I can sleep tonight. For a poor fellow like me from a remote part of the country, this is too good to be true,” he told CNN.
Operation to give Bajandar a normal life again
He first noticed the growths around 10 years ago, and visited a local doctor. After taking a course of medicine that didn’t help, the growths continued to get worse and within three years Bajandar couldn’t work as his fingers were completely covered.
Right now Bajandar cannot eat, drink or bathe himself, but instead relies on his wife Halima, 21. “This is pretty much the only thing I can do with my hand,” Bajandra says, scratching his neck.
“I want to live like a normal person. I just want to be able to hold my daughter properly and hug her. It would be nice to eat with my own hands as well.” If the operations continue to be successful, a normal life may beckon once again for the “Tree Man” of Bangladesh.
