Bodyshock - 4oD - Channel 4

Turtle Boy

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First Broadcast: 10PM Wed 25 April 2012 Channel 4

In a tiny hamlet in Colombia, six-year-old Didier has struggled with a huge burden - a rare condition called a Congenital Melanocytic Nevus. It's a giant mole that grew so much it covered 40% of his body. It resembled a shell, and Didier was nicknamed Turtle Boy.

There was a chance it could turn malignant. And Didier's mother Luz struggled with an additional burden - guilt. In this superstitious society, there was a belief that Didier's growth was a result of being conceived during an eclipse, which meant Luz and her family had to live apart from the rest of the village.

Luz longed to be free to have her son baptised, to take him to school and see him grow up like any other boy. But there was no way she could raise the money for an operation, until a local news crew broadcast a story on Didier.

The procedure would be complicated and dangerous, and even if it was successful the recovery process would involve a complicated series of skin grafts.

This extraordinary film traces Didier's story: a story of cutting-edge medicine, a mother's love, and a brave six-year-old's fight to be released from his burden.

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1. Turtle Boy Wed 25 Apr 2012
  
  In a tiny hamlet in Colombia, six-year-old Didier has struggled with a huge burden - a rare condition called a…
  - Graphic scenes of surgery
  - This episode has subtitles available.
  Playlist
2. The 27 Inch Man Mon 11 Apr 2011
  
  Edward Hernandez is 24 years old and just 27 inches tall. At home in one of the poorest neighbourhoods of Bogota in…
  - This episode has subtitles available.
  Playlist
3. Dad's Having a Baby Thu 07 Apr 2011
  
  Logan and Greg could be two kids in any average American family. Except they have two dads and one of them is pregnant…
  - This episode has subtitles available.
  Playlist
4. World's Biggest Boy Wed 26 Nov 2008
  
  At just seven years old Dzhambulat Khatokhov ('Jambik' for short) is four foot three inches tall and weighs 16 stone -…
  - This episode has subtitles available.
  Playlist
5. Born with Two Heads Mon 20 Feb 2006
  
  Manar Maged was born with two heads. The second has a brain, but no body. Despite this, the second head shows signs of…
  - Includes scenes of a surgical operation
  - This episode has subtitles available.
  Playlist
6. Half Ton Man Mon 06 Feb 2006
  
  Weighing the same as five baby elephants and a shade less than a Mini Cooper, Patrick Deuel is one of the heaviest men…
  - This episode has subtitles available.
  Playlist
7. The Man Who Ate His Lover Mon 01 Mar 2004
  
  On 9 March 2001, Armin Meiwes, a computer engineer from the tiny village of Wüstefeld in Germany, cut off the penis of…
  - Contains detailed descriptions of a brutal crime which some viewers may find disturbing
  Playlist
8. Curse of the Mermaid
  
  With her legs fused together like a tail, Milagros Cerron has one of the rarest birth abnormalities in the world:…
  - Scenes of surgery
  - This episode has subtitles available.
  Playlist
9. The Boy Who Gave Birth to his Twin
  
  The incredible story of seven-year-old Alamjan from Kazakhstan who underwent surgery for a distended stomach that was…
  - Contains images of foetal abnormalities and medical operations that some viewers may find disturbing
  Playlist
10. The Man Who Slept for 19 Years
  
  Twenty years ago Terry Wallis fell into a coma. Doctors said he would never wake up, but his devoted mother Angilee…
  Playlist