The Boy with Giant Hands

Did anyone see this on Ch.5 tonight?

Poor kid.
He was an Indian boy, from a poor family, who had a birth condition which made his hands grow and grow. One hand alone weighed over 5lbs and they were getting too heavy for him to lift even.

I don't know how old he was, he looked about 10 or 11 maybe, and his parents were having to spoon feed him still as he could no longer lift any cutlery.
He couldn't wash himself, dress himself, or even manage to go to the toilet on his own.

The local school refused to let him enrol as they said he would frighten other children.
Kids in the area where he lived would beat him up because he looked different.

Even his own Uncle didn't like him. He asked the boy's Dad if his wife visited the toilet during the night. The dad said Yes, she did sometimes. So incredibly, the Uncle said that is why their son had the problem, because 'latrines were full of evil spirits!!! '
The Uncle also said the lad was either the Devil's offspring or soemthing Satanic.

Isn't it appalling in this day and age, how belief's like this can still exist.

The Surgeon who agreed to try and help wanted to know why the parents hadn't taken the boy for help much younger. They said his body had been allowed to grow deformed like this for too many years when it should have been addressed when he was between one and two years old.

The poor parents obviously loved their son very much and were very distressed, because they did ask for help when the lad was much younger, but were told they could only amputate both his hands. They refused to let the medics do this, and that is why it had been left, as they were so scared of him losing both hands.

Eventually the new surgeon operated. He made the boy's arms slimmer because they were swelling now too, and took one small finger off as he had 6 on one hand, and although they operated on the growth plates to stop his hands getting any bigger, they couldn't do much more for him.

Eventually he was accepted in a school for his first taste of educaton.

It was really sad, I felt so sorry for the boy the way some people were being so hateful to him through no fault of his own. At least he looked happier once he was settled in school with kids his own age to play with and relate to though, even though his hands stayed huge.

Re: The Boy with Giant Hands

Poor little soul.
These terrible deformities seem to bring out the worst of people especially in these backward communities where cruelty and ignorance are commonplace.
But at he's being helped now.
Doctors are reducing the size of his hands to make life a little easier for him .