STRONG MAN TO CRIPPLE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19760, 10 April 1926, Page 22

STRONG MAN TO CRIPPLE.

STRANGE MALADY

FORTY-THREE OPERATIONS.

GREATEST DOCTORS BAFFLED,

The case of Albert Froidevaux, of Lausanne, has been puzzling the' medical profession in Europe for the past 16 yea! s. Suffering from what the doctors call ‘ symmetrical gangrene,” Fi'oidevaux is a Swiss, 38 years of age. He is a native of Moirmont, a village near the town of Bienne, and it was while serving with the French Foreign Legion—that famous regiment of “diehards”—that he suffered the trivial injury—at least it seemed trivial at the moment—that has condemned him to a life of unceasing torture. In 53 operations nearly half of his body has been removed.

When Froidevaux was 18, a strike occurring at the factory in which he worked in Besancon, France, he decided to enter the Forei, n Legion. Forty-eight hours later he found himself in barracks at Marseilles,* whence he was sent soon .after with a detachment to Algeria, then to the outskirts of the Sahara.

“We were a mixed and jolly crowd on the frontiers of nowhere,” he says, “and there were many skirmishes and little battles with the natives during several years. We enjoyed it; though it was a hard life, it was full of interest to a young man. “Then my detachment was transferred to Tonkin, where the Annamites and pirates had been givb.,, some trouble to the local military authorities, and it was at Tonkin the troubles of my life began, owing to a simple accident. POISONOUS SPLINTER.

“We were constructing a palisade around our small isolated camp to prevent a sudden attack from the Annamitos or wild animals when a bamboo splinter entered the index finger of my right hand. I pulled out the splinter and took no more notice of it, but in the night the finger became black, and I felt great pain. “There are many kinds of bamboo plants in the tropical regions. Some are poisonous, and these the natives employ to kill animals, from the tiger down to the smaller game. All die after being wounded, some quicker than others, but always in agony. “This virulent unknown poison of the East had entered my system and my blood, gradually reducing me f in a strong man to a cripple. “After suffering agonies of pain, during which 1 used to walk on the verandah of a friend’s bungalow day and night without sleep, 1 was sent to hospital for an operation, and my first fin"er, the trigger finger, was amputated. It would need a book to describe how. after that, the poison travelled through my body from one limb to the other. But the doctors, thinking the disease cured, sent me to barracks again. “Pain began in the right foot, swelling developed with inflammation, and for 13 months I lay in hospital near Oran in such atrocious suffering that even 30 injections of morphia a day failed to relieve the intense pain or make me sleep. After that the chief surgeon decided to cut off my right leg. 1 willingly agreed. Sixteen doctors attended, as it was considered an interesting and rare ease by them. I thanked them. PROGRESSIVE ATTACKS. Froidevaux was crippled now, hut felt relief at the loss of the leg, which had caused him so much suffering. He submitted to hvo operations in Tonkin, and two more in Algeria. Then he was sent back to his home near Bienne and restarted his work as a watchmaker. But the dreaded disease appeared again, and the course of the malady was extraordinary and eccentric. It always went to the extremities of the body, going '' om (these are Froidevaux’s own details of other operations) tlu left hand, whence three fingers were cut off, ic the left foot, half of which was taken away, and in succession attacked the right hand, from, which three fingers weie removed; (he right foot, of which first half and then the whole was removed; the left hand, from which the remaining fingers were amputated; then the whole hand, which had tc b removed; the left thigh; the two arms, the remaining fingers of, the right hand, which finally had to be amputated below the shoulder. With the bit of stump remaining of his right arm Froidevaux managed tc write, eat, and work, with many artificial contrivances of his own invention All these operations were performed in Switzerland at the famous Isle Hospital of Berne, where Europe’s best doctors meet. From 1913 to 1920 Froidevaux underwent 63 operations, 48 of which were under ether and chloroform, the others being under local narcosis. The doctors i-ssured him that if he kept (ice from another relapse for two years he would be cured and the disease would be vanquished. But this was only encouragement. During the following five years Froidevaux enjoyed the quiet home life of a man who could eat and drink what hq liked and read and smoke as much as he willed. Suddenly, in November, 1925, the stump left of his right arm began to pain him severely. He went to a Lausanne surgeon, who decided that an immediate operation was imperative to save his life. It was this ordeal that nearly broke Froidovaux’s heart, for since that date he can neither eat, drink, nor dress himself as formerly. He is helpless because the stump of his right arm has been cut off and has rot healed. For the first time under this infliction, poor Froidevaux seems to have lost his brave heart. A BRAVE PHILOSOPHER. Froidevaux always feels relieved after an operation. lie is never sick, and is allowed his beloved cigarette immediately atter the “show,” as he calls it. He has many decorations for bravery, including the Military Medal; he was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and he possesses a colonial modal from iontin and one from Casablanca. To complete this drama ol a life that was only filled with suffering, Froidevaux married recently a widow, who had known him from his childhood. Mme. Froidevaux declares that she did not, marry him through pity, but because she had cared for him »ery much ever since their youth. Froidevaux has his own philosophy 1 For many years,” he says, “1 was a blasphemer. I could not understand whv God if one existed—could torture me so.” One night, while lying in pain he hail a vision of a lumirous cross. This decided him to near his own cross and to be patient,. The unfortunate man draws a pension of only £S a year from the French Government.