The Man Who Turned into a Tree
A 35-year-old Indonesian man named Dede suffered a simple cut as a teenager and thereafter began growing tree-like warts all over his body. The warts soon worsened into mossy, branching growths, virtually incapacitating him. His wife left him, he was out of a job, and he was made the village freak. Doctors could never figure out what Dede’s condition was, and the growths worsened with each passing year. It wasn’t until an American dermatologist traveled to see Dede’s odd growths and cutaneous horns that the proper diagnosis was made: Dede was simply suffering from HPV, or human papilloma virus. HPV causes warts (frequently of the genital variety) and is quite common in humans. Unfortunately for Dede, he happens to have a rare genetic flaw that causes his immune system to be as weak as someone with AIDS. The chances of this genetic fault? Less than one in a million. Fortunately for Dede, proper treatment and several surgeries offer the promise of a normal life. The doctor is also trying to get more American support for this special patient. Good luck, Dede! (Check out the video here.)
- via Neatorama
Update: Find out what’s happened to the Tree Man in the last year and how surgery is improving his life.
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POSTED IN: Cancer, Medical History, Misc., Oddities, Skin
81 opinions for The Man Who Turned into a Tree
Dave
Nov 15, 2007 at 4:28 pm
Hi Sara,
Many thanks for posting a comment on my blog thanking me for the links I leave there.
Looking forward to learning more about what you’re up to and to supporting each other on our blogs.
The tree-sickness pix are something else.
Dave
whisper
Nov 16, 2007 at 12:22 am
this is enough to choke a horse. hpv is an std. a good reason to remain celibate.
David
Nov 16, 2007 at 7:24 am
Or a good reason to get vaccinated…..
catty
Nov 16, 2007 at 7:40 am
Erm… he got it through a cut. HPV is very common in the environment- there’s about 100 different types of HPV, roughly 1/2 pf them cause genital warts and others cause things like warts.
The average public doorknob likely has hpv viruses chillen’ on it. To most of us, touching that doorknob with a cut on our hand will lead to nothing, or a wart at the very worst. This guy has a compromised immune system, hence the disease going haywire and causing the skin growth.
catty
Nov 16, 2007 at 7:45 am
So yeah, it’s more important to be educated about HPV, get frequent exams and be a sensible human being than simply “staying celibate.”
mimi
Nov 16, 2007 at 11:49 am
um….HPV made this dude turn into a tree? whatever…is it just me, or did some American doctor just go over there and diagnose something im sure he’s never seen before….I’ve never heard of anything that turns limbs to wood… except viagra
"Mad Tom" Munden
Nov 16, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Methinks the lot of you are seriously gullible. This looks like Hollywood at work, and reeks of Alien Autopsy and bigfootage. Shades of Nessie, when are y’all going to wise up? If this guy can’t be cured, send him my way: I need to do some minor repairs on the property fence and can use the wood.
catty
Nov 17, 2007 at 11:51 am
It’s not hollywood at work. There has been cases of cutaneous horns going buck wild- not to this extent, but it’s happened before.
Mad Tom, I know that unusual disease may not be a part of your reality, but the human body is capable of a lot of unusual things.
catty
Nov 17, 2007 at 11:52 am
To Mad tom, elephant man was also just make-up, I’m sure.
Sara
Nov 17, 2007 at 11:56 am
Whisper, see Catty’s comment. Then go have sex.
Mimi, best of luck to you and your man and viagra. :P
Mad Tom, your cynicism is kinda sad. :(
Catty, are you a regular reader? Your comments made me laugh. :)
catty
Nov 17, 2007 at 12:01 pm
I wandered on this site through a friend sending me a link- I’ll be reading regularly from now on.
:D
blah
Nov 19, 2007 at 11:03 am
61 point resto spec
Meow
Nov 20, 2007 at 6:28 am
The people who think this is a fake picture of a fake disease should take 30 seconds to look it up. You’ll find thousands of references to this disease. It can’t be that all those doctors and researchers are lying.
deecee
Nov 20, 2007 at 10:34 am
In reference to the above picture. I’m really wondering how did he get his “hands” through the sleeves of his shirt. Tell me how.
Mike
Nov 20, 2007 at 8:11 pm
deecee - easy answer, he’s not wearing a shirt…
lam
Nov 21, 2007 at 12:34 pm
the man is wearing a shirt on the bottom pic
maybe he grew that too?
running
Nov 23, 2007 at 6:49 pm
It’s quite possible that Dede, is wearing a button up shirt to accomidate his tree-like limbs, im pretty sure he didn’t try to squeeze his “hands” into a tiny opening.
Wayne
Dec 3, 2007 at 2:06 am
Americans forget what’s going on in the rest of the world where almost any strange malady can and does still happen. The warts are not wood. They’re warts grown to horrible size. They just look like wood sorta. The guy who said he needed some fence wood was a real prince wasn’t he?
Don
Dec 7, 2007 at 3:52 pm
I’m not sure what to believe anymore. One thing I do know is that weird **it happens all the time.
karl
Dec 8, 2007 at 5:39 pm
you can see in the picture that the pants and shirt arnt button up….. so how does he get into them????? and is he looked after like a baby? cause he couldnt do anything for himself……
Stellar FX
Dec 9, 2007 at 1:37 pm
I think it isn’t true because 1) He’d be in alot of pain 2) If it started when he was 15 he’d be dead by now 3) Notice how unusually big his hands are 4) the man interviewing him is touching him on his hand to demonstrate the oddity without caring if it’s contagious and 5) Outer growths like these alway reflect an internal disease(s) or infection that inevitably affects the organs and lead to death.
Stellar FX
Dec 9, 2007 at 1:38 pm
By the way here is a video clip of the interview with him: http://www.flicklife.com/93583a13c0dd6686f3f3/Horrible_Disease_Turns_Man_Into_Tree.html
Dave
Dec 9, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Good god there are some stupid people out there.
I love that people jump to conclusions and then base all their opinions around that, no matter what evidence there is to the contrary.
Stllar, for example.
1. Why would be be in pain? Are warts always painful? No. And these are the same as warts, only his body cannot contain their growth.
2. Why would he be dead by now? What evidence are you basing this on? There’s no reason to believe this is life threatening, assuming there are people to look after him.
3. Yes, they are. So what?
4. Why should the other guy worry about being contaminated? The worst that can happen is he gets HPV, which much (about 60%) of the adult population carries anyway. The guy only has the growths because his immune system can’t cope.
5. Says who? Cutaneous horns, for example, have been shown to be quite benign, causing no other symptoms other than the horn themself. No damage to organs. It seems to me you’re making up these medical ‘facts’. I had a growth as a baby. And that’s all it was - a growth. No internal disease, no other problem affecting my organs. Just a growth. It didn’t lead to death, and although I had it removed, it wasn’t GOING to lead to death.
Stellar FX
Dec 9, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Thanks Dr. Dave for your enlightening comments. You get a medal.
SIMON
Dec 10, 2007 at 10:10 am
Stellar FX,
HE (dave) TOOOLD YOU!!!
Stellar FX
Dec 10, 2007 at 1:05 pm
LOL!! Yes he sure did Simon Says! Would you like to add any other medical facts that are backed by the Journal of the American Medical Association. Perhaps you can TEEELLL all of us something about HPV as well.
Sweta-Zinok
Dec 26, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Hi. Sorry for my english. Happy New Year!!!!!
Good Luck!
AprilShowers
Jan 2, 2008 at 5:10 pm
SATAN is something else!
Anne
Jan 17, 2008 at 4:49 pm
I watched the documentary on TV last night and it addresses most of the questions. His shirts are specially made. They fit over his head, are zipped up the sides, and then there are ties to sinch up the shirt.
Yes, he has a cousin that looks after him ‘like a baby’. He needs assistance bathing, dressing, and eating at the very least. You might be surprised though to find out that he smokes (through the aid of a cigarette being inserted into a long holder that is passed through a gap in his ‘roots’). He can move his hands and feet, is capable of walking, etc…
Genaro
Jan 26, 2008 at 9:27 am
Hey i hope you get better real soon.
fx
Jan 28, 2008 at 8:10 pm
what about the bubble man? is the doctor not gona help him.?
sammie
Jan 31, 2008 at 6:52 am
this is freaky
rek
Feb 5, 2008 at 6:38 pm
My sister says it is fake but it is so meal I know this because I am a nurse and I did the researce. The disease is real people
rek
Feb 5, 2008 at 6:38 pm
My sister says it is fake but it is so realI know this because I am a nurse and I did the researce. The disease is real people
Aydin
Feb 6, 2008 at 4:24 am
Hello, I read the whole comments, I saw the all videos about this man.
I’m sure you all are at different high intelligence level, but from my level I should ask because the things showed me a relation between which is maybe the reason is using plants like ayahuasca? it makes somethings possible and something question marks which someone only will find, and it’s by them to tell. Maybe they told already? Maybe in the life generation this can be happen. Turning to something else which was in previous or will be in the future.
Thanks
Aydin
Feb 6, 2008 at 4:32 am
Sorry about my English, but from this point it will have a huge place for conversation about what will happen if a man turns to a tree? this is not nice calling him tree man but let’s consider, trees also have life and can live thousands of years :-|
SamB
Feb 13, 2008 at 1:15 pm
No, this is not a hoax or doctored video. Dede suffers from the uncontrolled spread of “cornu cutaneum”, or literally “skin horns”. These are not uncommon, but most often take the form of a small growth on the skin. Seldom do they grow to more than a few millimeters.
Corrnu cutaneum are keratinous growths similar to common warts and in fact are caused by a strain of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), which causes common warts. The difference is that Dede has a compromised immune system (partly due to a genetic defect) which cannot control the growth of these structures. A normal immune system prevents growths such as these from spreading to the extent they have in this case.
The greatest danger comes from the fact that some cornu cutaneum can have a cancerous lesion at their base. The spread of this cancerous condition concomitant with the spread of the growths can ultimately result in the death of the patient.
If some form of intervention is not successfully implemented, Dede could die either from cancer or an infection which could develop unnoticed among the growths.
gilbertblack
Feb 14, 2008 at 9:40 am
For Dave and Stellar Fx: Dave, good job! The warts may be contagious, but only if they come in contact with broken skin or mucous membranes. The cutaneous horns are outgrowths of the epidermis and are NOT contagious.
shakeem
Feb 15, 2008 at 9:42 am
yo that is nasty and how it this tranismitted
Stellar FX
Feb 21, 2008 at 1:06 am
Yeah good job gilbertblack! Good job Dave! You both get a medal for rooting each other on! So Gilbert where did you get your doctorate degree? I also see you know many tree men and are proficient in broken skin and mucous membranes.
jessie
Feb 22, 2008 at 12:28 am
stellar.. seriously pull your head out of your @$$ and stop being so rude and asking people about their medical history everybody is entitled to their own opinion… i dont see anyone asking for your doctorate.. hmm?? anyway i think this story is INSANE!!
Blazer
Feb 22, 2008 at 2:00 pm
you people should stop giving each other medals and go back to a san francisco gay bar where u belong i hope u all become a tree just like this douch
sam
Feb 24, 2008 at 10:57 am
lol id like to see this guy have a thumb war with somebody,anyway this story is far fetched at best come on u seriously believe this crap?
Stellar FX
Feb 28, 2008 at 5:18 pm
My point exactly.
miranda
Mar 14, 2008 at 11:23 pm
I feel really sorry for the poor guy and whoever wrote little jokes about him being a tree man is just plain rude!
Mallory
Mar 17, 2008 at 4:23 pm
i think this is very unusual
buttercup
Mar 27, 2008 at 2:16 am
I hope that DeDe and his children get the support that they need.
sarah
Mar 28, 2008 at 11:46 am
I feel sympathy for this guy and some sort of awe. What a brave person and I hope that shallow people everywhere learn from this. I’m a “tree-hugger” you could say. Besides, over 53% of sexually active woman and men between the ages of 18 and 26 have had at least one form of HPV infection. That’s an actual fact that you can verify yourself through the center of disease control website. This guy just got infected from a cut…I think we should be a little MORE than understanding, guys. Lets show some depth.
erica
Apr 2, 2008 at 7:52 pm
nasty yo
Naomi
Apr 9, 2008 at 4:29 pm
i feel that this is just a sad situation. This man develops all these warts just from an open wound. He now has to be treated like a baby and cannot really do much else. I also heard that his wife had left him once he started developing these warts and left him with his children. If i had to live like this i would find it very hard to be happy and live life like that.
steven
Apr 15, 2008 at 9:29 am
nigga a treee. ill smoke him in a blunt.i waonder if the tree gave him a bigger woody
Crystal
May 3, 2008 at 8:32 am
It NEVER ceases to amaze me how stupid some of the people who share this planet with me are.
Regrets~
May 7, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Guys…dont be so mean to the poor man…not everything like this is crap…or hollywood made. some of us are real you know…and some of us actually go through with real pain…this is life, any thing can happen here. and those who dont understand the condition of the poor man…or other such people out there…are worse than these “craps”. My heart felt symathy for Dede and gratitude for everyone who believes this is true. :)
Regrets~
May 7, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Guys…dont be so mean to the poor man…not everything like this is crap…or hollywood made. some of us are real you know…and some of us actually go through with real pain…this is life, any thing can happen here. and those who dont understand the condition of the poor man…or other such people out there…are worse than these “craps”. My heart felt symathy for Dede and gratitude for everyone who believes this is true. :)
Ally
May 8, 2008 at 6:16 am
For the person who said you can get HPV off a doorknob…WRONG.
Viruses can’t live on surfaces like that long enough to be transmitted between people. This is the reason why you thankfully can’t get STD’s from toilet seats.
HPV must be transmitted through either intercourse or skin to skin contact, as in genital to genital contact or oral to genital contact.
thee radical eclectic
May 12, 2008 at 3:05 pm
from what i heard there are over 500 kinds of HPV and bacteria can live on surfaces for up to 96 hours without becoming active… given that a virus is simply RNA waiting for a living host then its possible that loose tissue could get into ones system and reach the bloodstream
Mirabelle
May 12, 2008 at 5:20 pm
ok.. some of you guys are really mean. this poor man is ugly and in pain and he needs some sympathy and compassion. i would NOT be able to go through such a difficult situation if this happened to me. so sure hes a tree man on the outside but that doesnt mean hes not a man on the inside. and stds can be transmitted in other ways tha dont include sexual activity. i am majoring in science currently. so get the facts straigh and stellar, you deserve an award for being RUDE. dave, you deserve and award for being RIGHT. and i feel bad for the treeman, you should also
travis
May 18, 2008 at 4:57 pm
how do u put ur clothes on????
NSKI
May 28, 2008 at 11:56 pm
How was Dede’s son. That poor guy. You could just see the apathy in his eyes… “why bother hey??? I’m probably gonna turn out like Dad….”
Well Wisher
May 29, 2008 at 4:58 am
God bless Dede. Hope he is completely cured soon. He deserves to lead a normal life…..
ou led
May 29, 2008 at 9:38 am
i feel sorry 4 him. did he find a new wife? ou led kaka shein
sarah
May 29, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Can’t wait to see this person get better!
danny
May 29, 2008 at 8:04 pm
funny as hell what as tree
Issac
Jun 3, 2008 at 5:32 pm
dude…
as soon as I started to read this article, I can’t stop itching.
Death.
Jun 6, 2008 at 9:24 am
I don’t think is really matters if you people think it’s real or not. I’m sure it is, or it may not be. You should just pray for this man, either way. He needs it.
And Stellar… You, my friend, are a jerk. Use your head, son. No one cares about anyone’s “medical background”. I might as well as you where you got your doctoratte. If you even have one. If you do, congratulations. But, that doesn’t make you more intelligent than anyone else.
I’m pretty sure no one cares for you opinion anymore, so stop being stupid and insulting people to make yourself seem smarter or better or whatever the heck it is you’re trying to do.
Death.
Jun 6, 2008 at 9:25 am
Ah, I don’t think it* really matters.
type-o… my bad!
Kadee
Jun 6, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Seriously, this ruined my lunch…although, I feel extremely bad for this person. I hope he gets the help that he needs. Nobody should have to go through something like this…
janie
Jun 10, 2008 at 7:50 am
Death, Dave and Mirabelle…you are all just as much jerks, rude, and stupid to waist time on this important blog with someone like stellar instead of staying on the subject.
andrea
Jun 11, 2008 at 11:14 pm
I wonder if research into rabbits with horny wart like growths couldn’t help. There is one in my parents yard. The growths look identical. I think it’s called “shopes virus” in rabbits.
Alexa
Jun 13, 2008 at 7:34 pm
how in the world could people be so cynical?
this man is suffering. outside of your little bubble, there are real people in a much harsher reality. i will pray for this man and i am sad that his case got so severe…all of you should pray for him and his family as well. my heart breaks for the ignorance of people with no compassion towards people like this.
Alexa
Jun 13, 2008 at 7:34 pm
how in the world could people be so cynical??
this man is suffering. outside of your little bubble, there are real people in a much harsher reality. i will pray for this man and i am sad that his case got so severe…all of you should pray for him and his family as well. my heart breaks for the ignorance of people with no compassion towards people like this.
Kristina
Jun 30, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Okay, so all I can say here, is WOW!
Just goes to show, that despite all of Hollywoods glamorization of all that exists, our bodies are capable of breaking down the boundaries of the extraordinary! Who would of thought warts could resemble a tree like appearance, with roots for hands!
My thoughts go out to Dede, and his family, and all the best to obtaining the medication needed to overcome this disease.
Jherek
Aug 13, 2008 at 6:33 am
Thing like this make me lose the little hope I had that there may be a god. But the response by some of the assholes on this page just makes disgusted and lose faith in mankind. What a bunch of ignorant little assholes.
This is real. Do your fucking research. It has been documented numerous times, just to a smaller extent. He is in a place where he did not have the means or resources necessary to treat what could have been a simple infection. Fortunately for you little pricks, you’ll never have to experience anything like this because you’re well taken care of by mommy and daddy… UNfortunately, some people aren’t so lucky and you’d do well to learn some empathy and keep that in mind.
As the article also explains, he has a compromised immune system. That is why it took over. To the idiots who take the title literally, it is NOT turning him into a tree… it’s a rather inconsiderate and callous name some idiot came up with to get more media attention. They’re WARTS that RESEMBLE tree bark. Holy. Shit. :|
mahtab khajehnassiri
Aug 17, 2008 at 8:22 pm
I think this man has the dry type of leprosy.
janie
Oct 6, 2008 at 7:46 am
It’s been diagnosed as HPV:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/10/02/treeman.wart.skin.disorder/index.html
Heather
Oct 20, 2008 at 5:15 pm
I would love to see an update . I felt sorry for him.
I also was hoping his country would help his friends in the circus . they looked like they needed help as bad as he did?
I also think his country got involved only because our doctor here in the United States tried to help..
anyway may God be with him in his journey.
Anne Marie Gulliksen
Nov 24, 2008 at 2:19 pm
I saw the program about Dede and the others who suffers from diseases like HPV. I think it is awful, I feel really sorry for them. I really hope Dede and the others will become well and I wish they all could get money from supportes or others so they wouldnt have to work in that awful sircus or the evil magic show. There are so many cruel people in this world who are mean to others especially to innocent people and animals. I hope one day those evil people will learn by experiencing the same tragedies as these poor people and others have to. I still hope that the evil persons can get well when they have understood the awfulness.
Anne Marie Norway
craig wilson
Nov 26, 2008 at 2:22 pm
this is supposed to be caused by generations of inbreeding.That is how you only see things like this in little poor villages.
smudge&midnight
Dec 8, 2008 at 8:59 pm
its geneticly impossible to turn into a plant, human cells are rounded, plant cells are sqaure, so its impossible to mutait into a plant, we have a better chance of turning into a dog.
JaCe
Dec 29, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Wow so many non educated people out there..its a growth does a wart hurt NO…i totally agree with DAVE ….ITS YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM HIS CANT COPE…
Let
Jan 1, 2009 at 4:55 am
All these people leaving bad comment with questionmarks if it is not real… questionmarks because you think it’s unpossible for him to get on a t-shirt? You should see all the vids made bout him. One of those explains that the brother of Dede customized all of his clothing with special buttons!
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