Gabby Gingras has a disease so rare she's the only person her parents and doctors can find in the U.S. suffering from it. Like any other three-year-old, Gabby takes her share of slips and falls--yet unlike other toddlers, Gabby is incapable of feeling any pain.
Gabby was born with a genetic defect called "Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathy Type-5. "Little tiny nerve fibers, the smallest of the nerve fibers, that are supposed to record pain, send that signal to the brain, so you can interpret what it is. Those fibers are not working," Smith says.
I'm sure everyone has thought "Man, it would be killer if I couldn't feel pain!"
Pain is a safety mechanism. Without it, you would have no idea when something, potentially fatal, is wrong. It also knocks you out when it becomes too intense, which saves your brain from severe trauma.
There was another woman at one time who suffered from the same affliction. Burns were what she dealt with the most, but she eventually died from bed sores. Her body wasn't able to tell her it was time to roll over, and it cost her her life.
Traumatron
United Kingdom
January 2003
FEB 29, 2004 03:32 PM