Full transcript
0:00Today, I'm going to tell you three
0:01medical mysteries. And all of these
0:03stories end with diagnoses that are so
0:06bizarre, they'll leave you thinking, "I
0:08didn't even know that was possible."
0:10But, before we get into today's stories,
0:12if you're a fan of the strange, dark,
0:14and mysterious delivered in story
0:15format, then you've come to the right
0:17place, because that's all we do, and we
0:19upload two, three, even four times every
0:21week.
0:22>> [music]
0:22>> So, if that's of interest to you, please
0:24offer to do the like button's laundry.
0:26Don't tell them you're going to do their
0:27laundry in their dishwasher. Also,
0:30please subscribe to our channel and turn
0:32on all notifications, so you don't miss
0:34any of our weekly uploads. Okay, let's
0:36get into today's stories.
0:53One morning in 2017, a 25-year-old man
0:57named Wataru Abe Takuya stumbled into
1:00the Keio University Hospital in Tokyo,
1:02Japan. Takuya felt sweaty and feverish,
1:05and his head was pounding, and he also
1:08had one hand kind of cupped over his
1:10right ear, because his ear was literally
1:13leaking fluid. But, Takuya was not
1:15scared by these symptoms. Instead, he
1:18actually felt sort of annoyed, because
1:20this was actually not the first time
1:22these symptoms had happened to him. So,
1:24Takuya had this long history of
1:27something known as cholesteatoma, which
1:29is basically a recurrent cyst that grows
1:31deep inside the ear canal. When he was a
1:33teenager, he'd had multiple surgeries to
1:36have the cyst removed and keep it from
1:38coming back. And for almost a decade
1:40now, it had seemed like the surgeries
1:42had worked, because the cyst had [music]
1:44stayed gone. But, about 2 weeks earlier,
1:47he'd begun having this this [music]
1:48constant drainage coming out of his ear,
1:51which was, you know, a sign that the
1:52cyst was back. Now, when this began
1:54happening, initially, he had sort of put
1:56off going back to the hospital, but now
1:59he was pretty sure the cyst had caused
2:01him to develop an ear infection, which
2:03would now explain his fever and his
2:05headache, and so [music] here he was.
2:07So, Takuya made his way to the check-in
2:09desk at the hospital with one hand still
2:11kind of keeping the liquid in his ear,
2:13and as he's standing there, he explained
2:15his symptoms and his medical history to
2:16the receptionist,
2:18who nodded, you know, took down all of
2:19his information, and quickly admitted
2:21him to the emergency room. About half an
2:23hour later, Takuya was laying in his
2:25emergency room bed with his eyes closed
2:27because the light in the room was so
2:29intense, it was, [music] you know,
2:30making his headache worse. But, even
2:32with his eyes closed, he knew there was
2:34a hospital doctor standing right beside
2:36his bed. And he listened as the doctor
2:38went over the results of some of the
2:39tests they had run. The doctor said that
2:42based on Takuya's medical history and
2:44the fluid clearly leaking out of his
2:45ear, they were pretty sure that he was
2:47right, and that his cyst had returned
2:50and led to what was now a severe ear
2:52infection. He said that very likely
2:54Takuya would have to have another
2:55surgery to get rid of the cyst again.
2:58But, the doctor didn't want to operate
3:00just yet because he said they had an
3:02even bigger problem to deal with first.
3:04Based on the preliminary blood tests,
3:07the doctor said it looked like Takuya's
3:09ear infection had gotten so bad
3:11>> [music]
3:11>> that the infection had actually spread
3:13to the tissue surrounding his brain.
3:15And this was obviously extremely
3:17dangerous, primarily because it could
3:19lead to permanent brain damage and even
3:21death. And when Takuya heard this, I
3:23mean, on one hand, he was obviously
3:25shocked. I mean, this was more [music]
3:26than he expected, of course.
3:28But, more than that, he just felt mad at
3:30himself because he knew that if he
3:32hadn't waited so long to come to the
3:34hospital, this infection likely wouldn't
3:36have gotten this bad. I mean, he's known
3:38about this for 2 weeks. He just [music]
3:39kind of didn't want to deal with it, and
3:41now it was obviously much worse. But,
3:43regardless, you know, it was too late
3:45now,
3:45>> [music]
3:46>> so Takuya, despite the light, opened up
3:48his eyes, and
3:49he asked the doctor, you know, what
3:51could they do?
3:52And the doctor said they were going to
3:54have to admit him to the hospital, not
3:55just the emergency room,
3:57>> [music]
3:57>> and start him on a very powerful dose of
3:58antibiotics. Two weeks later, Takuya was
4:02still in the hospital.
4:03>> [music]
4:04>> And at this point, he was actually lying
4:05on his back, and he was being basically
4:07rolled inside of a CT machine, which
4:10basically is like this big white [music]
4:11ring that goes over your head, and it
4:13scans the inside of your head. So, by
4:16this [music] point, the antibiotics he'd
4:18been prescribed had worked, and Takuya's
4:20infection [music] had been cured.
4:22But, despite that, his ear was still
4:26leaking fluid on and off, not
4:27constantly, but it was definitely still
4:29happening.
4:29>> [music]
4:30>> So, because of that, hospital doctors
4:32had ordered this CT scan specifically so
4:35they could look inside of Takuya's head,
4:37and basically map out exactly how they
4:40were going to operate on his ear. Takuya
4:42laid perfectly still for about 5 minutes
4:45while the CT scan machine took pictures
4:47of the inside [music] of his head. And
4:48then when it was done, the nurse pulled
4:50him out, and then led him back to his
4:51hospital room. And then, a little while
4:53later, a hospital doctor came into the
4:56room holding some papers, and the doctor
4:58told Takuya that, you know, based on the
5:00CT scan he had just done,
5:01>> [music]
5:02>> he actually didn't need another surgery
5:04on his ear. And immediately, Takuya felt
5:07so happy and so relieved because he
5:09thought, you know, another surgery was
5:11practically inevitable.
5:13But, that happy feeling only lasted for
5:15about [music] a second
5:17because then the doctor, who, you know,
5:19just delivered this news, sort of
5:21shifted and had this really troubled
5:23look come over [music] his face, and
5:24they told Takuya that, well, the reason
5:27you don't need another surgery is
5:29because there is no cyst in your ear at
5:31all. The real problem that was causing
5:34all of your symptoms was much, much
5:36worse. Then, from his stack of papers,
5:39the doctor handed Takuya an image from
5:41the [music] CT scan.
5:42When Takuya looked at it, he could not
5:45believe what he saw. It would turn out
5:47Takuya had an extremely rare condition
5:51[music] called Gorham's stout disease,
5:53which is more commonly known as
5:55vanishing bone disease. It happens when
5:58a person's body just [music] randomly
6:00starts breaking down and consuming their
6:02own bones. And [music] in Takuya's case,
6:05his skull was now literally
6:08disappearing, almost like [music] a like
6:10a melting ice cube. And that fluid that
6:12was leaking out of his ear was brain
6:14fluid that was now basically flowing
6:17through the holes in his skull. [music]
6:20Now, unfortunately, at the time of the
6:22story and still today,
6:24>> [music]
6:24>> there is no known cure for Gorham's
6:26stout disease. The best doctors can do
6:29is basically plug up the holes where
6:31they begin to disintegrate. [music]
6:33And that's exactly what they did for
6:34Takuya. They used a special glue and
6:37literally kind of plugged up the holes
6:39in his skull.
6:40But amazingly, it sort of worked because
6:43Takuya's doctors monitored him for bone
6:45loss and fluid leakage after they did
6:47this. And as of his most recent checkup
6:50in 2018, at least in terms of what's
6:52been publicly released,
6:54he appeared to be doing quite well.
7:07Hey guys, I have some pretty big news. I
7:10know many of you are excited to hear. I
7:13am going to be doing another live
7:15storytelling tour this year. You can
7:17find me in a bunch of cities, including
7:19new ones on the West Coast and across
7:21the United States, where I have never
7:23played before. Plus, I'm really excited
7:25to share that I will also be performing
7:28in an international city, since so many
7:30of you have been asking me to visit. We
7:32put together an absolutely amazing show
7:35with a whole bunch of awesome stories,
7:37including stories you will not hear
7:39anywhere else. New content you can only
7:42get if you come to this show. And guess
7:44what? Tickets for this tour are
7:46available right now at
7:48tour.ballenstudios.com.
7:50In terms of the types of tickets you can
7:52buy, they range from general admission
7:54to VIP. Again, that's
7:56tour.ballenstudios.com.
7:58I'm also going to be giving away a trip
8:00to meet me at one of my live shows. And
8:03so, if you want to enter for your chance
8:04to win that, all you have to do is
8:06donate to win at fandiem.com/mrballen.
8:10Again, that's f a n d i e
8:13m.com/mrballen.
8:17Get your tickets and enter the
8:18sweepstakes today. I can't wait to see
8:20you at the show.
8:30One afternoon in late January of 2018, a
8:33father named Dan Levitas stood inside
8:35the bathroom that his three kids shared
8:37inside [music] of his house in Madison,
8:39Wisconsin.
8:40Dan grabbed his kids' toothbrushes and
8:42threw them right in the garbage. Then he
8:44sprayed the counters, the sink, the
8:46mirror, basically every surface he could
8:48see with [music] disinfectant and began
8:50wiping everything down. So, Dan was
8:52doing this [music] because he, his wife,
8:54and their three kids all had strep
8:56throat. And according to their doctor,
8:59the best way to get rid of it was
9:00basically to have everybody take
9:02antibiotics and to deep clean the house
9:05to get rid of all the bacteria that had
9:07caused the infection.
9:08>> [music]
9:08>> However, as Dan, you know, followed
9:10protocol and scrubbed down the bathroom
9:12counters, [music]
9:13he felt sort of frustrated because this
9:15was not actually the first time that his
9:17whole family had come down with strep.
9:20Over just the last four months, his
9:22whole family had gotten strep six times.
9:26And no matter how many antibiotics they
9:27took or how many times they deep cleaned
9:30the house and all the bathrooms, it's
9:32like they always got sick again. And
9:34this was really baffling to Dan because
9:36he was actually a biologist and so he
9:39knew a lot about bacteria and he'd
9:41already explored practically every
9:43option for where this repeated strep
9:45infection could be coming from. Nobody
9:47else at his or his wife's work was
9:49getting sick [music] and neither was
9:51anybody at his kids school or daycare so
9:53he knew it couldn't be coming from any
9:54of those places. But this didn't make
9:56any sense either because each time they
9:58got strep, all six times, Dan and his
10:02wife,
10:02>> [music]
10:02>> you know, systematically disinfected
10:04like the entire house. I mean really
10:06overboard cleaning every surface.
10:09So [music] if there was bacteria
10:10somewhere in the house, it had to have
10:11been cleaned up by now.
10:13But it was like somehow the bacteria was
10:17surviving the disinfecting.
10:18>> [music]
10:19>> He just didn't know where it could be.
10:21But regardless, Dan still dutifully went
10:23to about, you know, disinfecting the
10:25bathroom for the the sixth time here.
10:27Then when he was done, he went into the
10:29kitchen where he had his whole family's
10:31antibiotic prescriptions stacked up on
10:33the counter. Dan took his own and then
10:35also grabbed doses for everybody else.
10:37Dan brought antibiotics to his two
10:39daughters who were six and three years
10:41old and who were also both lying in
10:43their beds looking completely miserable.
10:45Then he went into his and his wife's
10:47room where he found his wife sitting up
10:49in bed cuddling with their very sick
10:51one-year-old son.
10:52Dan handed his wife the antibiotics and
10:55then looked down at his son. He looked
10:57so small and vulnerable and it just
10:59killed Dan to think how many times this
11:01poor kid had been sick and how powerless
11:03he was to help him. Dan didn't know what
11:05else to do here. He and his wife were
11:07following doctor's orders here but this
11:09is again the sixth time and clearly
11:12nothing's changing so the advice is not
11:13really helping.
11:15It just sort of felt like they were
11:16trapped and couldn't get out of this
11:17awful situation. But then as Dan was
11:20standing there feeling sort of defeated,
11:22he thought of something.
11:24His mother was a retired pediatrician
11:27and she might have different advice for
11:29how to handle this.
11:30So he sat down in bed, took out his
11:32and he called his mom to ask for help.
11:35And Dan's mom actually did have a theory
11:37about where this strep bacteria was
11:39coming from and how to get rid of it.
11:41>> [music]
11:41>> But, because Dan was, you know, a
11:43biologist and really understood how
11:46bacteria functioned,
11:48>> [music]
11:48>> he knew her theory was sort of out
11:50there. Like most scientists and medical
11:52professionals, for that matter, would
11:54say that his mom's theory was basically
11:56not possible. But, at this point, Dan
11:59and his family were desperate enough
12:00that they were all ready to try
12:02something new. So, Dan decided he would
12:05try out his mother's theory.
12:07And so, he began looking for an expert
12:09to [music] help him do that.
12:10But, all the experts Dan got in touch
12:13with, when they they heard about what
12:15this theory really [music] entailed,
12:17they turned it down. Like nobody was
12:19prepared to do this.
12:21And so, for Dan, it felt like he was,
12:22you know, right on the cusp of maybe
12:25finding the answer here and maybe
12:27curing, you know, his family of this
12:29horrible problem,
12:31but no medical professionals would even
12:33entertain it as a possibility. About a
12:35month later, in early March, Dan was
12:37inside of a hospital room sitting next
12:39to his wife, and they were both staring
12:41down at their three-year-old daughter.
12:43She was lying in a hospital bed hooked
12:45up to an IV and an oxygen mask,
12:47>> [music]
12:47>> because she'd gotten strep throat for a
12:49seventh time.
12:51And this time, [music] she'd gotten so
12:53sick, she'd also developed pneumonia.
12:56And so, realistically, at this point,
12:58Dan and his wife weren't even sure if
13:00she was going to survive. And for Dan, I
13:02mean, he was on the verge of a complete
13:04[music] breakdown here. He was convinced
13:06that the only way to protect his kids
13:08was to find somebody who would test his
13:10mother's theory, but Dan and his wife
13:12had already been turned down by
13:13basically every expert in the entire
13:16state. And so, Dan really didn't know
13:18who to turn to at this point. But, as
13:20they sat in the hospital room watching
13:23their toddler fight for her life,
13:25Dan's wife suddenly turned to him and
13:27said, "What if instead of asking medical
13:29professionals for help,
13:31what if we try asking medical students?
13:34>> [music]
13:34>> Maybe a student would be more willing to
13:36test out this theory, you know, even if
13:38it did seem kind of crazy." Dan agreed.
13:41At this point, it was definitely worth a
13:42try.
13:43>> [music]
13:43>> So, they reached out to the University
13:45of Wisconsin. And this final Hail Mary
13:49actually worked.
13:50On April 4th, 2018, so about [music] 6
13:53months after the first strep outbreak in
13:54their house,
13:56Dan and his wife took one very specific
13:59thing [music] from their home and
14:01brought it to the University of
14:02Wisconsin. The student they'd contacted
14:05then analyzed this thing and was
14:07determined, after their analysis, that
14:10Dan and his family's crazy theory
14:13was correct.
14:14>> [music]
14:14>> It would turn out Dan, his wife, and
14:17their three kids were not the only ones
14:19in their home suffering from strep
14:22throat. There was actually a sixth
14:24victim.
14:25Their pet cat. Now, most veterinarians
14:28didn't believe that cats could even
14:30catch [music] strep, let alone transmit
14:32it to humans. So, they all refused to
14:35test the family's cat. That's why they
14:36kept saying no. It was not until Dan
14:38contacted the University of Wisconsin
14:40Veterinary School that a student [music]
14:42finally agreed to do it. And lo and
14:44behold, the test came back positive for
14:47the exact same strain [music] that the
14:49family kept on catching. Their cat kept
14:52giving them strep. Dan's 3-year-old
14:54daughter would make a full recovery from
14:56her pneumonia.
14:57>> [music]
14:57>> And after another round of antibiotics,
14:59including antibiotics for the cat, and
15:02one more deep clean of the house, the
15:04family's strep throat finally went away
15:06for good.
15:18>> [music]
15:23>> On September 30th, 1964,
15:25a 44-year-old woman named Charlotte
15:27Lawrence stood with her husband outside
15:29the door to her parents' apartment
15:31[music] in a little city in southwestern
15:33Germany. Charlotte took a deep, shaky
15:35breath and then unlocked the door and
15:38stepped slowly into her parents' home.
15:40So, Charlotte was here because both of
15:43her parents had suddenly died just a few
15:45[music] days ago.
15:47They'd only been 70 and 76 years old and
15:50they'd both been in good health, but her
15:52father had suffered a massive heart
15:54attack right in their kitchen
15:56>> [music]
15:56>> and when her mother found him, she also
15:59had a heart attack, apparently out of
16:00shock. Now, Charlotte's mother had
16:02managed to call a doctor,
16:04>> [music]
16:04>> but by the time the doctor arrived, both
16:06Charlotte's dad and mom were deceased.
16:08[music] Now, Charlotte and her husband
16:10had flown into Germany that morning from
16:12Wisconsin, where they lived,
16:13>> [music]
16:14>> and up until this point, Charlotte
16:16really had been holding her emotions
16:18together. But now, standing in her
16:20parents' living room and looking around
16:22at all their belongings, it was like all
16:24of the grief just poured [music] out of
16:26her and she just broke down and sobbed.
16:29So, her husband, not really knowing what
16:30else to do, just turned [music] on the
16:32TV and sort of guided Charlotte over to
16:34the couch and told her to to sit down
16:36and and rest for a bit before they had
16:38dinner. They actually had plans that
16:40evening with the next door neighbor.
16:41[music]
16:42She was this elderly woman named
16:43Caroline. And Caroline had offered to
16:45come over and cook dinner for them. And
16:47also Charlotte's uncle, Dieter, [music]
16:49planned to come over as well after
16:50dinner since he lived nearby. About 30
16:53minutes later, Charlotte is still
16:54sitting on the couch just kind of
16:56relaxing and watching TV.
16:58Caroline, the neighbor, showed up and
17:00she showed up with two big bags of
17:01groceries and she went right inside the
17:03house and right into the kitchen and
17:05began cooking. And pretty soon, the
17:07entire apartment smelled like comfort
17:09food, which made Charlotte feel
17:11admittedly a lot better.
17:12>> [music]
17:13>> Eventually, Caroline called out that
17:14dinner was almost ready. So, at that
17:16point, Charlotte got up, she went into
17:18the kitchen and sat down at the table
17:20next to her husband. And then, after the
17:22food was served, they all ate dinner
17:24together while they waited for her uncle
17:26Dieter to arrive. [music]
17:27Not long after, Uncle Dieter arrived and
17:30knocked on the front door of the
17:31apartment.
17:32But, after a full minute, nobody came to
17:34the door.
17:35So, he knocked again.
17:37But, there was still no answer. Dieter
17:39could hear the TV on in the living room,
17:41but he couldn't hear any voices inside
17:43or the sound of anybody moving around
17:45inside the apartment. So, after a couple
17:47of minutes, he just decided he would let
17:49himself in.
17:50As Dieter walked through the living
17:52room, he began calling out for
17:54Charlotte, her husband, and for
17:55Caroline.
17:56>> [music]
17:57>> But, still, nobody called back. And
17:59there was no sound of anybody moving
18:01inside the apartment. It was just
18:02totally still.
18:04And so, Dieter, he couldn't help but
18:05feel a little apprehensive. Like, this
18:07is weird. Like, where is everybody?
18:09What's going on? They were expecting me.
18:12He walked out of the living room and
18:13into the kitchen. And there, he saw
18:15Charlotte, her husband, and Caroline all
18:17sitting at the table eating their food.
18:20But, something was wrong.
18:22All three of them were just sitting at
18:23the table, and their plates were, you
18:25know, half-eaten right in front of them.
18:28But, nobody was moving. It was like they
18:29were all just kind of stationary, just
18:31kind of staring straight ahead. And so,
18:33Dieter, he sort of he bent down and he
18:35was like, "Charlotte, what's going on?
18:37What's What are you guys doing?"
18:40But, when he got a good look at
18:41Charlotte's face
18:42>> [music]
18:42>> and Caroline's face and Charlotte's
18:44husband's face, his stomach just dropped
18:46and he
18:47>> [music]
18:47>> he backed away, totally horrified. What
18:50Dieter saw was so terrifying, so eerie,
18:53so awful, it actually made international
18:56news.
18:57And that apartment would even get a
18:59nickname,
19:00the death house. Charlotte's parents did
19:03not just have spontaneous heart attacks
19:05on the same day and die. That's not what
19:07happened. It would turn out that toxic
19:10sewer gas had been [music] leaking into
19:12the apartment through a broken pipe in
19:14the kitchen sink. That gas poisoned both
19:18of Charlotte's parents and caused their
19:20hearts to stop basically at the same
19:22time. Now, nobody thought to check for
19:25sewer gas poison, so Charlotte and her
19:27husband came to stay at her parents'
19:29apartment without any idea that the
19:32apartment was still full of this toxic
19:35gas. And so when Dieter finally came
19:37over for dinner, he found Charlotte, her
19:39husband, and Caroline all sitting around
19:42the kitchen table sort of frozen there
19:45because they were dead. Dieter,
19:47fortunately, after seeing this,
19:49immediately [music]
19:50left the apartment to go call the
19:51authorities. And it was that decision
19:54that ultimately saved his life.
20:03Thank you so much for watching. Let me
20:05know what you thought of today's episode
20:06in the comments. And remember, we have
20:09hundreds of videos for you to binge
20:11right now. But, if you're looking for a
20:13recommendation from me of that one video
20:15that's worth your time, well, it's this
20:18one right here. So, give it a watch.
20:20All right, until next time, see you.