Despite being carefully attended to, he is still full of scars. Reporter Hongli Li took the photo. When he was 6 months old, his hand was scorched but he didn't cry.
"Normally, when I touch him, he can feel it; when I tickle him, he knows it's ticklish; even when his stomach hurts, he knows," Qi Yuxia said. Neither her family nor her husband's family has ever had this kind of disease. Qi Yuxia’s 11-year-old younger son has intelligence and physical condition just like ordinary people.
"This disease requires examination for diagnosis," said Dr. Shuguo Wang from the Neurology Department of Tonghua People's Hospital. Xu Lei's strange illness might be called "Childhood Hereditary Sensory Neuropathy Syndrome", commonly known as "Painless Disease". It should be due to a lesion in his brain or spinal cord causing loss of pain sensation. He only lost his sense of pain and temperature, but he could still feel stomach pain.
The doctor diagnosed a suspected case of "Painless Disease."
Once, Xu Lei mischievously started the motorcycle at home, and his left foot was accidentally burned by the exhaust pipe. By the time his parents found out, he had already developed osteomyelitis, and they had no choice but to amputate below his calf. Because he had no sense of pain, the doctors did not use anesthesia. To prevent Xu Lei from getting hurt again, the family kept him from going outside, and he stayed at home every day, which made him irritable and often led him to do things that would harm himself.
Relevant Materials
According to media reports: there are currently 35 patients with Painless Disease in the United States, and about 100 worldwide. Currently, advanced medical science cannot cure this rare disease. Experts speculate that patients with Painless Disease usually don’t live past the age of 25. Patients who cannot feel pain may die from appendicitis; some fatal fevers and inflammations could also be lethal.
Qi Yuxia introduced, "Over the years, in order to treat Xu Lei, the family has spent over ten thousand yuan, but still hasn't cured him."
As the saying goes, "ten fingers connected to the heart." However, Xulei, a man from Ankou Town in Liuhe County, placed his finger in his mouth and bit it off without shedding a tear, and even underwent an amputation surgery without feeling any pain without anesthesia.
Xu Lei now only has one tooth left, all others were chipped from eating hard items. Xu Lei said that when he was young, he was curious and often hurt himself. As he grew older, he understood his mother's feelings and tried not to harm himself so as not to worry his mother.
Xu Lei's behavior caught Qi Yuxia's attention. When Xu Lei learned how to walk, he played alone in the yard, picking up stones and smashing them on his own fingers, blood flowing from the wounds, yet he felt no pain. Sometimes, he walked barefoot, stepping on sharp objects that injured his feet, but he never felt anything.
To prevent Xu Lei from having another accident, Qi Yuxia had to watch him every day, but she couldn't stop the accidents from happening. Xu Lei bit off the tip of his tongue while trying to eat sunflower seeds from his tongue. Once, while eating an ice lolly, he exerted too much force and broke a tooth. During meals, he often accidentally bit his lips. Before one wound healed, another new wound appeared.
"His whole body doesn't know pain." This year, 21-year-old Xu Lei stays at home all day. His mother, Qi Yuxia, dare not leave the house, and she watches him closely, fearing he might get hurt by something hard. The earliest discovery of Xu Lei's lack of pain perception was when he was 6 months old. Qi Yuxia watched Xu Lei while cooking. She saw Xu Lei playing near the pot and went inside to fetch something. When she came out, she found Xu Lei holding hot coals, his scorched hand emitting an unpleasant smell. She quickly snatched the coal away from him. Xu Lei didn't cry at all and soon fell asleep.
Qi Yuxia said that Xu Lei was naturally lively and unaware of danger. He once drank freshly boiled hot porridge, grabbed a red-hot stove cover and ran away with it, and fell multiple times from walls. Since he didn't feel pain, he frequently fractured bones, and he was unaware of the risks of disability. Therefore, he was scarred all over, and surviving until the age of 21 was already a miracle.
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