Meet 11 Year Old Boy Who is Slowly Changing into a ‘Stone Statue’ Due to Tragic Skin Condition

When Nar Kumari held her baby for the first time, he couldn’t have been more perfect. Smiling back at her, Ramesh Darji looked like any other bouncing baby boy.

According to Dailymail, 15 days after she brought him home, Ramesh’s skin began to peel and was replaced by thick, black scales which have been slowly and painfully entombing him since.

Ramesh can’t walk nor talk but only letting his parents know when he is hungry or needs to use the bathroom. His scaly appearance scares other children, which implies he has no friends.

At age six, the condition had left him unable to walk, and so he has never been to school.

After some time, his parents, Nanda, 35, a labourer and Nar, 26, did discover the cause, an extremely rare condition called Ichthyosis but they were unable to do anything to ease their son’s suffering because they could not afford the hefty medical bills.

He explained: ‘We took him to a few doctors in our district but we were told that treatment was costly and only available in private hospitals.

‘We did not have enough money and had no choice than to keep Ramesh home and do our best.’

Fortunately for them, help came from an unexpected source, a British singer Joss Stone.

‘In the meantime, I saw a video on social media about this poor boy so I sent them the link and she immediately decided to help him.’

The concert in Kathamandu raised £1,375 for his treatment through the Joss Stone Foundation.

But that wasn’t enough for the Devon singer, and she met with Ramesh the next day, spending nearly two hours with the little boy, giving him gifts, including cuddly toys and chocolates.

Sanjay said: ‘Joss was extremely moved by Ramesh’s plight. She got really emotional seeing him. She spent a long time playing and interacting with him. Ramesh was overjoyed by the presents.’

Nanda said: ‘We’ve never known how to help him.  His mother spends the entire day with him, which makes it difficult for her to focus on our other kids. 

‘She cannot work either and she used to cry alone feeling bad for him.’

The good news is Ramesh is now receiving treatment at the Kathmandu Medical College, where doctors remain hopeful they may be able to make his life easier.

Sabina Bhattrai, the assistant dermatology professor, explained: ‘People with his condition suffer from dry, thick, scaly or flaky skin. In many cases, people have cracked skin which resemble the scales on a fish.

‘He was in a really bad state when he was admitted. We had to remove the scales from his body and it was painful. 

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‘Over a period of two weeks we gave him antibiotics to avoid infections and applied drugs and moisturizer on his body to remove the dead skin.’

His inability to move is because he’s been left for too long,’ Dr Bhattrai said.

‘But since his bones and muscles were not weak by birth we can try to work on them and with some physiotherapy I’m hopeful we can make him stand again. 

‘We will have some x-rays and other tests done and start physiotherapy sessions.’

Already, there are signs of improvement, which increases Nanda’s guilt at not being able to do something sooner.

‘I feel really sad and helpless to have failed him. Since the layers of skin have been removed he’s even able to speak better. As parents, we failed him. My only wish is to see him walk again now.

‘I am very grateful to Joss Stone for her initiative to help my son and I would never be able to thank her enough. She has done what nobody else could do here. I owe my life to her.’

Ramesh’s treatment will be ongoing, Sanjay said, adding: ‘The money raised will now help the family stay in Kathmandu for treatment so that they do not have to travel back and forth to their village.’ 

Photo credit: Cover Asia Press/Laxmi Prasad Ngakhusi