The skin is the largest organ on the human body and it is also the organ that is most visible. We don’t often give it the attention it really deserves, but sometimes it may be problematic and then it is noticed by everyone.
This included a boy named Tomm, who was born with too much skin. As a young baby, he had enough skin to cover the body of a 5-year-old child. Nobody was expecting it, and even the doctors were surprised.
His father, Geoff Tennent was interviewed in 2003 and said: “When he emerged, I was really surprised. “I never imagined a human, or a small child, could look like that.”
When you grow up with a special child in the family, there are going to be challenges and reasons to celebrate. They knew that he would always be different, but now, the child looks much different than when he was born in 1993.
His father also said: “We kind of discussed this between us and we decided what’s meant to be is meant to be and we went through with it.” They didn’t even know if they were going to keep the baby.
In spite of tests and examinations, they still had difficulty wrapping their minds around what their child was dealing with. Even his mother said that when she was able to pick him up and hold him in the delivery room, it was nice but her heart was racing.
There wasn’t a cure or treatment available for for the child and medical professionals didn’t know what type of ailment it was. They were hoping that when he grew older he would eventually fit into his skin.
Since she was such an exceptional child, scientists spent extra time trying to unravel the mysteries behind his ailments. He would go from test to test, which was difficult for the entire family. They just couldn’t get any answers.
Despite the fact that he had extra skin, they knew the child would also deal with the same ups and downs as other children. One thing that they did learn was the fact that he had 100 times more hyaluronic acid in his skin as other people. Interestingly, this was similar to a Shar-Pei dog.
As Shar-Pei puppies grow, their skin eventually changes as the hyaluronic acid decreases. They were hoping the same thing would happen for Tomm.
One of the primary difficulties the youngster had was when he entered school. As can be expected, the children would bully him and refuse to play with him.
Eventually, he was able to make friends and despite the fact that he looked different than the other children, he endured.
60 minutes was able to interview Tomm, and he spoke about what he saw when he looked in the mirror. He said he saw a ‘kind, loving person’. He went on to say “People say I look cool sometimes, really cool sometimes, and sometimes they don’t say anything at all.”
He also grew up in a family that was very supportive and he got a lot of love from his parents. Now that 28 years have passed, people are curious about what he looks like today.
He isn’t very active on social media but he does have a good life. He is married to Hannah and they live in Australia.
He also is a very positive individual, one saying that ‘life is easy, you make choices, and you don’t look back.’
The young man’s story is very motivational. It shows us that regardless of what we go through, we have an opportunity to come out on top.