Worlds ugliest man has disease that turns…
Godfrey Baguma is the first to proclaim it: “I am the ugliest man in the world! The whole world!”
Back in 2002, Godfrey, now 63, took half in the competitors for Uganda’s ugliest individual and received.
While most people could be fairly heartbroken to earn such a title, Godfrey lives with an extraordinarily uncommon life threatening and condition called fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), also identified as “stone man disease” — so standing out with such a superlative made him really feel particular.
“When I won the title for being the ugliest man, I was like, this is who I am,” he says in an exclusive clip from a new episode of “Most Extreme Humans,” airing Wednesday, June 17 at 9pm ET on TLC. “I’ve made it this far, I’m still good for something. It gave me confidence.”
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What is FOP?
The muscle tissues and connective tissue of people with FOP regularly flip to bone over the course of their life. This course of begins in childhood, when the neck and shoulders turn into frozen, and regularly strikes down through the limbs, proscribing motion.
If muscle tissues around the mouth and jaw flip to bone, it will probably block speech and eating. Bone growth around the ribcage can restrict respiratory.
“This disease attacks the muscles. They grow and turn into bone there is a lot of pain,” Baguma said.
What’s particularly scary is that any type of injury (like a fall or surgical procedure), and even viruses just like the flu, may cause bone to grow even quicker.
Even injections like vaccinations or numbing at the dentist’s workplace would possibly trigger further bone to type.
Swelling is a major downside of FOP as new bone presses on lymphatic vessels, obstructing the movement of lymphatic fluid, and inflicting the liquid to pool in a limb.
Baguma’s condition is extraordinarily uncommon, affecting one in a million people worldwide, with only a number of hundred circumstances ever recorded.
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People with FOP have some choices for treatment, including a drug that limits new bone formation, which was accredited by the FDA in 2023. They could also take antibiotics because of their elevated risk for respiratory infection, and corticosteroids to help with pain and swelling.
People like Baguma also need particular footwear and braces to help stroll and go about daily life as bone stiffens the limbs.
Godfrey’s story
Baguma was born in a small village in Uganda, where he confronted ridicule and discrimination.
“Over the years, many people have called me ‘gorilla,’” he says in the new episode. “Some call me ‘monkey,’ some call me ‘baboon.’ This is normal. I’m used to it now.”
He first observed one thing was flawed when he skilled irregular swelling to his cheek at age 10.
Still, he went undiagnosed effectively into maturity, going on to have eight youngsters — six with the love of his life, Namande Kate.
“I told her that I didn’t choose to look the way I do and that if she feels I am a burden, she is free to leave me,” he beforehand told KFM.
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However, she told Barcroft: “Godfrey’s not handsome on the outside, but he has a good heart. I wish people would see him the way I see him.”
About a decade in the past, Dr. Tony Wilson, the top of drugs at Mbarara Hospital in Uganda, carried out an MRI and finally recognized him. He was reassured that he couldn’t move the condition on to his youngsters.
All the while, he has refused to let this condition outline him. He’s pursued music, motivational talking and comedy.
He encourages others with messages of self-acceptance and striving to overcome adversity and systemic discrimination.
Baguma shares his story on “Most Extreme Humans,” a new show on TLC telling the tales of people dwelling with uncommon medical situations and overcoming the percentages.
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