American Stephen Peet and his brother were born with a rare disease - congenital insensitivity to pain. Only a few hundred people around the world suffer from them, according to scientists. It is characterized by partial or complete absence of pain in burns or injuries.
According to British scientists, such changes in the body occur before birth at the genetic level. A mutation in a gene called SCN9A results in a lack of pain reflexes, which greatly increases the likelihood of injury, fracture, and severe burns.
“People, looking at us, do not even suspect what is happening to us, they think that we are ordinary healthy people. They don't understand that my body can refuse at any moment."
The Pete brothers in Washington state can sense touch, but nothing more. The pain is not familiar to them.
The Pete brothers as a child
“My parents realized that something was wrong with me when I was about five months old. My first teeth then erupted and I began to gnaw my tongue. They went to the pediatrician to understand what was happening,”says 31-year-old Steve.
Doctors examined the child. According to Stephen, they even burned the skin on his leg, so that then a bubble jumped up, but he did not cry. An attempt to inject him with medical needles in the area of the spine also did not lead to anything.
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“After I didn’t react to all these experiences, the doctors diagnosed me with congenital insensitivity to pain,” says Stephen.
Childhood without pain
Both brothers lived on a farm with their parents, and in the conditions of village life, boys who did not feel pain often unwittingly harmed their health.
“We often skipped school because we ended up in a hospital bed with another injury. For example, I once went rollerblading. I don't remember exactly what happened there, but I fell down, tried to get up and suddenly I heard people shouting something at me. I looked at my leg - the leg was covered in blood, and my bone was sticking out from there, Steve continues.
At the age of six, the guardianship authorities took him out of the family due to the fact that one of the neighbors reported about “bullying a child,” who constantly has some kind of injury.
While parents and doctors were proving to officials that Stephen was capable of inflicting damage on himself, almost two months passed, and during this time the boy broke his leg again.
“Of course, today I behave more cautiously than in childhood, and I understand what exactly could be a danger to me. Another thing is, if I accidentally hit somewhere, I cannot immediately understand how serious the injury is. However, the last time I broke my toes, my wife realized it before I did,”says Steve Peet.
Pain without pain
In addition, he is forced to often consult doctors, checking if there are any injuries or diseases of internal organs.
“When I start to suspect that there is at least a little something wrong with my body, I immediately go to the hospital, and the doctors conduct examinations,” he says. - People, looking at us, do not even suspect what is happening to us. They think we are ordinary healthy people. They do not understand that my body can refuse at any moment. They do not understand that many parts of my body are sick, although I do not feel this pain!"
Stephen also said that, for example, he develops arthritis and finds it difficult to move. And doctors warn that injuries and illnesses can provoke complications, and he can lose his left leg.
“I try not to think about it, I drive away sad thoughts. But I still understand that this disease - insensitivity to pain - made my brother, who loved sports, hunting and fishing, and who knew that in a year and a half he would be confined to a wheelchair, commit suicide,”says Stephen Peet.