Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. When he was just two years old, Joseph Merrick's mother noticed that some areas of his skin began to change. Some darkened, discolored skin growths were appearing, and they began to look bumpy and rough. Lumps began to grow under the boy's skin—on his neck, his chest, and the back of his head.
Mary Jane Merrick began to worry about her son, Joseph, and the other boys were starting to make fun of him. As Joseph grew older, he began to look even more strange. The right side of his head began to grow, as did his right arm and hand. By the time he was 12 years old, Joseph's hand was so deformed it became useless.
The growths on his skin were now large and repulsive for most people to look at. Over the next years and with the passing of his mother, Joseph left home, tried working in a factory but was abused by the workers there, and finally ended up in a freak show. By now his face was distorted by the overgrown half of his head, and the flesh around his nose had grown, too, leading the show promoter to dub Joseph "The Elephant Man.
Most people know the rest of the story from the movie, The Elephant Man , starring John Hurt: how, at first, a doctor, then others including royalty, came to see the intelligent, sensitive man behind the grotesque deformities. People have been moved by the universal message of tolerance of the differences found in Joseph Merrick's story. But what most people don't know is that it took years for doctors to correctly identify his medical condition. At the time Joseph Carey Merrick lived , leading authorities stated he suffered from elephantiasis.
This is a disorder of the lymphatic system that causes parts of the body to swell to a huge size. In , a doctor postulated that Merrick suffered from neurofibromatosis , a rare disorder that causes tumors to grow on the nervous system.
Photos of Merrick, however, do not show the brown skin spots characteristic of the disorder. The doctor presented Joseph to the Pathological Society of London and wanted to do more studies with him, but Joseph refused. Alone in Belgium, Joseph wanted to get back to England, and finally a year later, he made his way back.
Unable to understand his speech, they eventually found the business card of Dr Treves on him the Doctor he saw some years ago , and took him to the London Hospital. Back in the London hospital, Dr Treves pictured again examined Joseph and found that his condition had severely deteriorated in the last two years. There was an overwhelming response from the public — both with letters and donations, and these donations meant he would be able to stay in the hospital for the remainder of his life.
On the night of his death, he had decided to lie down in his bed, and during the night, he passed away in his sleep. Dr Treves did the autopsy and believed that Merrick had died of asphyxiation lack of oxygen. For many years, people could come and view his skeleton. Today, his remains are kept in a private room that requires special access to view them. More recent studies have suggested that he had a very rare disorder called Proteus syndrome.
Proteus syndrome causes asymmetrical growth affecting one side of body more than other and causes extreme development of skin, bones and other body parts. The BBC is even currently working on an adaption of the story, however, are facing criticism for their casting choice. The Elephant man and other reminiscences As a specimen of humanity, Merrick was ignoble and repulsive; but the spirit of Merrick, if it can be seen in the form of the living, would assume the figure of an upstanding and heroic man.
Fig 2. Joseph Merrick. No photographer credited in the British Medical Journal article of Public domain. Via Wikimedia. Freak shows After leaving the workhouse, with none of the modern social services existent, the hapless Merrick was forced to eke out a living by displaying his deformities for the music hall proprietors Sam Torr and J. The journal The Hospital in briefly noted: Figure 3. Merrick was found dead in his bed on April 11, Diagnosis The disorder from which Merrick suffered has been much debated.
The Proteus syndrome The Proteus syndrome is characterized by few or no manifestations at birth. Fig 5. In memoriam Joseph Merrick. Bryan Bordelon, Findagrave. References Vigor-Mungovin J. The True History of the Elephant Man. Harmondsworth: Penguin, Ferguson C. Autobiographical pamphlet displayed at his freak shows.
Treves F. A case of congenital deformity. Trans Path Soc London ; The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences. The Elephant Man. Notes and News. The Proteus syndrome: The Elephant Man diagnosed. Correspondence Br Med J ; The Proteus syndrome: the Elephant Man Diagnosed.
Br Med J ; A mosaic activating mutation in AKT1 associated with the Proteus syndrome.
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