Unknown Disease Causes Woman's Legs to Grow Meteorically (and you thought the Freshman 15 was bad...)

Alright, so maybe when you entered college you gained the dreaded freshman fifteen. Well that’s as innocuous as getting a pimple next to the struggle of Mandy Sellars, a British woman suffering from an undiagnosed disease which has caused her legs to expand so much that they currently weigh about 210 pounds. Doctors believe her disease may be related to Proteus Syndrome, the condition made famous by the Elephant Man.

In a recent profile of Seallars published in The Mirror, Monica Cafferky details Sellars' struggle:

“I use an electric wheelchair when I go out,” says Mandy. “I live alone and what takes the average person half an hour takes me an hour, if not longer. Just getting dressed in the morning is a mammoth task.

“By the time I go into the kitchen to get breakfast, I can be exhausted. I can’t just pop to the shops, it all has to be planned.”

Mandy has a specially adapted hand-controlled car so she can still get out to meet friends and go round for a coffee and a chat.

“I try to lead a normal life but I do get frustrated,” she says. “The worst thing about my condition is that my mobility is getting worse and I have no control over it.”

When Mandy was born doctors gave her a week to live. Her left leg was three inches longer than her right, and both were out of proportion. No one knew what her condition was or how to treat it.

Despite the odds, Mandy proved everyone wrong and at 18 months she began walking.

Sellars has managed to survive arthritis, deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot in her leg, and a two month period of paralysis - after which she required three months to learn how to walk again.

Despite challenges associated with her condition, Sellars has been able to obtain a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Central Lancashire and volunteer at an animal rescue shelter...

Doctors like geneticist Susan Huson are still struggling to find an answer to the mystery of Sellars’s disease, but remain hopeful. All Wikipedia (the most plentiful source of maybe legitimate knowledge in the world) has to say about treatment is this: "While doctors cannot treat Proteus Syndrome, research into the causes of the condition is ongoing in the UK, supported by the Medical Board of the Proteus Family Network UK." Not very encouraging.

So don’t complain about packing on those orientation pounds or how rough it is to finish your term paper the day before it's due.  At least your legs are under control.

PHOTO CREDIT: UK Mirror