His disfiguring disease made him a recluse, much like the original "Elephant Man," Joseph Merrick. But a new surgical procedure has given him a new chance at a normal life, reports Fox News:
A man suffering from the disfiguring disease portrayed in the movie, "The Elephant Man," has been transformed by surgeons who performed a full-face transplant on him.With his once tumor-ridden face now transformed, Pascal Coler tells the News of the World that he hopes to find love for the first time at the age of 30.
"The operation has revolutionized my life," Coler said. "I can live as a normal human being for the first time. People in the street look at me very differently. They no longer stop and stare or shout cruel words. Instead I am accepted. I even dream of myself in my new face -- and now I would love to find a wife, settle down and have children."
Coler spent 24 years disfigured by Von Recklinghausen's disease, a rare genetic disorder brought to the attention of the masses 100 years ago Joseph Merrick, nicknamed the Elephant Man and the subject of a 1980 movie of the same name.
Read the whole story at the link above.
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Comments (4)
It's John Merrick.... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Jim in Cleveland | March 25, 2008 7:55 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
It's John Merrick.
1. Posted by Jim in Cleveland | March 25, 2008 7:55 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on March 25, 2008 07:55
2. Posted by LaMedusa | March 25, 2008 9:42 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I remember reading about this. The photos are extraordinary! Hopefully he can have a normal life now.
2. Posted by LaMedusa | March 25, 2008 9:42 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on March 25, 2008 09:42
3. Posted by Jim Addison | March 25, 2008 4:01 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Jim in Cleveland ~ No, it's Joseph. Dr. Teves misremembered his name in his book, written some years later, and the error was carried over into the movie.
3. Posted by Jim Addison | March 25, 2008 4:01 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on March 25, 2008 16:01
4. Posted by connie | April 19, 2008 6:10 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
you may have the name right but you have the disease wrong. Von Recklinghausen disease, now termed neurofibromatosis, was the disease doctors thought he suffered from but he was later found to have proteus syndrome - a completely different condition. (http://www.emedicine.com/ped/TOPIC1912.HTM)
4. Posted by connie | April 19, 2008 6:10 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on April 19, 2008 06:10