http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlequin_type_ichthyosis
This scary and sad disease was first documented in 1750:
"On Thursday, April ye 5, 1750, I went to see a most deplorable object of a child, born the night before of one Mary Evans in 'Chas'town. It was surprising to all who beheld it, and I scarcely know how to describe it. The skin was dry and hard and seemed to be cracked in many places, somewhat resembling the scales of a fish. The mouth was large and round and open. It had no external nose, but two holes where the nose should have been. The eyes appeared to be lumps of coagulated blood, turned out, about the bigness of a plum, ghastly to behold. It had no external ears, but holes where the ears should be. The hands and feet appeared to be swollen, were cramped up and felt quite hard. The back part of the head was much open. It made a strange kind of noise, very low, which I cannot describe. It lived about forty-eight hours and was alive when I saw it."
Amazingly one kid was lucky enough to survive this disease and competes in Triathalons (wow). His story is amazing and they did a short bit on some medical show which Youtube only got part of... here's the newspaper article and youtube link:
http://www.10news.com/health/3919722/detail.html
video of ryan gonzales who is a survivor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvQLh1hibT8
more info here:
http://asylumeclectica.com/asylum/ma.../harlequin.htm
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