37 years old, Indonesian man Dede Koswara, better called as “Tree Man,” has lived for years with speedily spreading warts that have covered his whole body in a case that has bewildered doctors. You might have seen a man appearing as a woman or adorned completely in a tattoo design but not a man with wooden body! You may never even dream of a man with wooden body, but in real life, Dede Koswara has wooden body who lives with us.
American doctor Anthony Gaspari at a news conference in Bandung, about a two-hour drive from capital city Jakarta said, “This is the most remarkable case, the most severe case, I have seen in my career“.
Introduction to the Man with wooden body
Dede Koswara lives in his home town of Bandung on the Java islands in the country of Indonesia, where he is enduring treatment for his rare condition. When he was 15, Dede’s ordeal began and cut his knee in an accident. On his lower leg, a small wart developed and spreaded wildly. He had to give up work finally as a builder and fisherman, and scratch a living in a traveling freak show.
If you observe his chest, hands, and feet; then all seems to be full of wood rather than skin and blood. It looks like a trunk of a tree is coming out from him. He is rightly well-known as the ‘Tree Man’ in and around the locality with such appearance.
Current days of Dede Koswara
Dede is all alone today in his home with hardly any one to take care of. This ordeal proved so bad for him that now he lives single-handedly in spite of the shocking fact that he is married man since last 10 years. His wife and two children left him and he moved in with his parents and has been supported by extended family. However, his two kids often visit him at the hospital.
Dede endured a surgical treatment in 2008 after living a maximum portion of his life with these tree-like lumps. In removing more than 4 pounds of such moles from his body this treatment was successful but tree on Dede body continue to grow in six months even after having a surgery.
Koswara’s immune system has made him powerless to fight the Human Papilloma Virus infection causing his body to create the warts due to a rare genetic problem. It is believed that Dede is suffering from a tongue-twister of a disease recognized as Epidermodysplasia verruciformis.
About Epidermodysplasia verruciformis
Epidermodysplasia verruciformis is characterized by abnormal susceptibility to human papillomaviruses (HPVs) of the skin. Generally this condition has an onset of between the ages of 1–20, but can rarely present in middle-age. Epidermodysplasia verruciformis is also known as Lewandowsky-Lutz dysplasia or Lutz-Lewandowsky epidermodysplasia verruciformis.
The cause of the condition is an inactivating alteration in any EVER1 or EVER2 genes, which are located adjacent to one another on chromosome 17. Yet the precise function of these genes is not completely understood, but they play a role in regulating the allocation of zinc in the cell nucleus.
By just reading about Dede Koswara – Man with wooden body, we think that how hard life he is living! Imagine the condition of him. It is really very tough to live this life. Hope Dede Koswara becomes like all of us soon.
Photos of Dede Koswara – Man with wooden body:
