![bookmark](href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MhvFrz7psjI/S25q-WNfAkI/AAAAAAAAAHs/OAo7qobt-Ts/s1600/postrs.png)
June 26, 2008
It's amazing what some random snippet of general knowledge can teach you...
For those of you who have noticed the 'Did You Know?' box in my profile, its the one thing i look forward to everytime i log in my acc (well, besides the comments & messages, of course! lol). It gives me interesting trivia, which although i would possibly never use in real life, would benefit me in different ways. Triggering my imagination and encouraging me to find more info on the subject are among them.
Tonight's random trivia was about a rare disorder that prevents a person from consuming/doing a particular thing that contains a particular type of substance. In layman's term, we call em 'allergies'.
For example, we have people who are allergic to dairy products. Others are allergic to dust, peanuts, and some even to sunshine. Although they have it bad and are forced to accept their misfortune of missing out on life (soldier on, brave knights!), the trivia I read tonight was probably the worst allergy I have ever encountered.
Imagine being allergic to liquid.
For those of you who have noticed the 'Did You Know?' box in my profile, its the one thing i look forward to everytime i log in my acc (well, besides the comments & messages, of course! lol). It gives me interesting trivia, which although i would possibly never use in real life, would benefit me in different ways. Triggering my imagination and encouraging me to find more info on the subject are among them.
Tonight's random trivia was about a rare disorder that prevents a person from consuming/doing a particular thing that contains a particular type of substance. In layman's term, we call em 'allergies'.
For example, we have people who are allergic to dairy products. Others are allergic to dust, peanuts, and some even to sunshine. Although they have it bad and are forced to accept their misfortune of missing out on life (soldier on, brave knights!), the trivia I read tonight was probably the worst allergy I have ever encountered.
Imagine being allergic to liquid.
Laugh if you want at how ludicrous this condition sounds, but in reality it really exists. Like I said previously, it is a RARE disorder. So far, only 30 known cases have been reported worldwide, and its scientific name is 'Aquagenous Urticaria'. But that's all I got from my featured application box.
I recall reading a feature article a few years back in a British magazine called Bliss. It was about a girl who suffered from this terrible condition, and how limited her life was. I remember looking at her picture... a rather pretty girl with sunny blond hair, bespectacled, and sitting on the grass with a smile on her face.
If I didn't know any better, I would have thought she was perfectly normal.
The article was from a first-person point of view. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this term, the story was told from the girl's point of view. The tale of her life was heartbreaking.
She had NEVER drunk water in her life, coz her skin would become 'scalded' as if it touched hot water. All she could drink was milk, which is half solids. She couldn't get in the rain without her special raincoat, or she would 'scald' as if from acid. And she couldn't shower for longer than 30 seconds, if i'm not mistaken, or her skin will burn.
As for her love life? Well, she could have one which involves physical affection, provided that the kisses shared between her and her boyfriend were dry. No frenching, no exchanging saliva... just a dry kiss, coz a wet one would literally kill her. And when its her time of the month? Well, i forgot what she said exactly, but she did say it felt as if hot water was being poured onto her.
But what I found most devastating was that she couldn't become a mother. First of all, she couldn't even have sex (oh come on, people! stop cringeing! don't be such prudes! it's a normal part of life, and you'll someday do it too! deal with it!), coz the exchange of natural liquids would... yes you guessed it. KILL HER. And a baby? Well, forget it.
The desire to mother a child is ALMOST an inescapable one for a woman. It's exactly the feeling a woman gets when she is told by the doctor that she can no longer procreate... only most women won't die if they still tried.
Close your eyes, put yourself in this poor girl's shoes and imagine for a while...
You are at the beach. It is a hot summer's day. You brought your boyfriend along with you to share this special day. It is a beautiful sunny day and the ocean is calling, endless & blue and its waves crashing on top of the swimmers, who laugh gleefully from all the excitement, imagining they are mermaids or scuba divers. You so badly want to feel the cool salty waters on your skin, but you know you couldn't even dip your toe into the sea without risking your life.
You are parched. You need a drink, but the only thing they have is water, and things made out of water. No one serves milk at the beach! You think to yourself, 'Damn it! I should have brought some from home', as you enviously watch the beach-goers sipping their pina coladas, chugging down cans of chilled Cokes and licking colourful frozen popsicles, melting down their chins.
Your boyfriend can sense that you are troubled. He tries to distract you by kissing you, but its not like the ones you watch in movies, unless you count Disney movies. There is no passion in it, and even if both parties wanted it, they couldn't indulge. Never mind the circumstance. He loves you so much that it doesn't matter much to him
You lay down on the towel & watch the sun set over the horizon. The romantic setting stirs in him romantic feelings. He tells you how much he wants to be close to you, but he knows deep down inside he can't. He even says that he wants to marry and have 5 kids with you, and hoping that they'd all get your beautifully-shaped eyes and his cheeky smile. But you both know you can never do those things, no matter how much you love him...
Her story makes me realize that we often take our life for granted. The simple, and seemingly significant acts we do on a daily basis such as taking a shower, or having
And as for the brave 30 men & women who suffer from this disease, I greatly admire your courage & strength for holding on. I hope that we would soon find a cure and possibly end your suffering, once and for all.
Life is fleeting. Life is short. We should make the most of it. Feel like drinking some water & giving someone a kiss now?
0 Response for the "*Old Post* Imagine a life without liquid..."
Post a Comment