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Bizarre News: Bangladesh's 'Tree Man' Has His Hands Back After 16 Surgeries

By Angela Laguipo | Update Date: Jan 11, 2017 10:40 AM EST

Bangladehs's "tree man" has now his hands back after grounbreaking surgeries. The 27-year-old father and husband from a small town in Bangladesh suffered from a rare condition that caused his hands to sprout tree-like warts.

After 16 surgeries over the past year removing about 11 pounds of growth, Abul Bajandar can finally see his hands.

He recalled when the warts started to appear during his teens. During that time, he wasn't concerned and opted to cut away the growths himself. Since it's too painful, he sought the help of a homeopath in his poor village. However, the medicines just made them worse, the Washington Post reports.

In his 20s, the warts turned into bark-like branches and began to quickly multiply. By 25 years old, people called him "tree man" because of his hands that looked like tree branches. To make things worse, he can no longer feed himself or brush his own teeth.

Since his family can't afford treatments in India, he approached a television show for help, the Daily Star reports.

Rare Condition

Bajandar is suffering from a rare genetic condition called epidermodysplasia verruciformis, which predisposes a person to Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections in their skin. People with this condition may have wart-like skin lesions that progress into malignant tumors in about 50 percent of patients, Live Science reports.

New Hope

"Bajandar's cure was a remarkable milestone in the history of medical science," Samanta Lal Sen, plastic surgery coordinator at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said as reported by Telegraph.

"We operated on him at least 16 times to remove the warts. The hands and feet are now almost fine. He will be discharged within next 30 days after a couple of minor surgeries to perfect the shape of his hands," she added.

The surgeries gave Bajandar a new hope to finally live a normal life. If the growths will not grow back, he will be the first person to get cured of the disease.

"I never thought I would ever be able to hold my kid with my hands... Now I feel so much better, I can hold my daughter in my lap and play with her. I can't wait to go back home," Bajandar said.

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