Elephantiasis, the disease that struck down Joseph Merrick, “the Elephant Man”, in the old days of black and white photographs, is not an easy condition to live with.Hats don’t fit, people yell things at you on the street, hula-hooping is tricky.
The number of people being diagnosed with Elephantiasis is on the up this year, according to a magazine I was reading in my dentist’s waiting room – may… maybe it was Cancer, I can’t remember, I was pretty nervous about being at the dentist. But it got me thinking. There are hundreds of millions of people out there suffering in silence and nobody is talking about it. It is quite literally the elephant in the room. Can sufferers go on to live normal lives? It’s possible, and here are some of the most famous examples of people who gave the finger to Elephantiasis.
COLONEL HATHI
Elephantiasis usually cripples a patient’s self-esteem because of their massive head and lumpy, asymmetrical body, but that can’t be said for this guy. A sufferer from birth, he rose to become a powerful and respected Colonel. Hathi showed that if you can be racist, misogynistic and have the ability to intimidate children, you too could be the leader of your own tree-trampling militia.
BABAR
Babar managed to overcome the difficulties of being born with Elephantiasis to become a proud bow tie owner, as well as King, or something. He was also French. I know, I know, Elephantiasis isn’t sounding too bad now, is it?
DUMBO
If there’s one thing Dumbo taught us, it’s that deformities are cute to everyone except menstruating females. Some people will take time to warm to you. They’ll point and stare, they may even beat you up, but there will always be a mouse around to get shit-faced with. Ultimately little Dumbo earned the love and respect of racially stereotyped crows, and you can too.
-James Coyle
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