Episode Transcript
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Hey listeners, I'm here to tell you about
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an all-new suspense-driven podcast,
0:04
Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries.
0:07
It's hosted by Mr. Ballin, one of the
0:09
internet's most popular storytellers.
0:12
Why medical mysteries? Well,
0:14
we've all been there, turning to the internet
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to self-diagnose inexplicable
0:19
pains, debilitating body aches, sudden
0:21
fevers, and strange rashes. Though
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our minds spiral to worst-case
0:27
scenarios, it's usually
0:29
nothing. But for an unlucky
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few, these symptoms can start the clock
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ticking on a terrifying medical mystery.
0:36
Each week on Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries,
0:39
you can expect bizarre, unheard-of diseases,
0:42
miraculous recoveries, strange
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medical mishaps, and everything in between.
0:47
Like the unexplainable death of a retired
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firefighter whose body was reduced to
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ashes, even though nothing around him
0:54
burned. Or the time when an entire
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town became ill with nausea and chills.
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The local doctor initially chalked
1:01
it up to being food poisoning, until
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people started jumping from buildings and
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seeing tigers on their ceilings. Each
1:08
terrifying true story will be sure to
1:10
keep you up at night. I'm about to play a clip
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from Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries. While
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you're listening, follow Mr. Ballin's Medical
1:16
Mysteries on Amazon Music or wherever you get
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your podcasts.
1:28
On a humid summer morning in June 1999,
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36-year-old Sanju Bhagat
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was hard at work on a farm outside of Nagpur,
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a city in central India.
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The sun had just risen, and the air was
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already so hot that he found it hard to breathe.
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Sanju and a group of farmhands were hard
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at work tending to the soybean crops.
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He made his way through the field, stopping to catch
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his breath every few steps. Sanju
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moved a lot slower than his co-workers because
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of his massive belly. For
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the past 15 years, Sanju Sanju
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had struggled beneath the weight of his ever-growing
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stomach. At first,
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when he was in his early twenties, his family
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had thought he was just filling out a little, like
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all young men do when they become adults. But
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Sanju's stomach didn't stop growing. It
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kept getting bigger and bigger until
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it had swelled to the size of a massive
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watermelon. But his arms and legs
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stayed stick thin. He never understood
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why his belly kept growing since he didn't
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eat much. By
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the time Sanju reached his early thirties, he
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was in constant pain and his family
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desperately wanted him to see a doctor. But
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he couldn't afford to take time off of work. Although
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deep down, he had to admit he was a little
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scared of what the doctor might find.
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The sun beat down on Sanju's head and
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he could feel his chest tighten. He tried
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to keep working, but today it was harder
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to breathe than usual. No matter how
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deeply he inhaled, he couldn't quite
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catch his breath.
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Finally, he dropped
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his shovel and doubled over, gasping for
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air. Sanju gathered what little
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strength he had left and stood up straight.
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He could feel other farm workers' eyes on him
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as he gathered his tools and headed home.
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It was the longest walk of Sanju's life.
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He felt humiliated and useless. But
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he was also afraid. He could barely take
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a breath. By the time he
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got to the small home he shared with his
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family, he nearly fell through
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the front door.
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The last thing he remembered was falling hard
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on the tile floor.
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Early the next morning, Dr. Ajay Mehta
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had just started his shift in the oncology
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ward at Tata Memorial Hospital. He
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was alerted that a new patient, named Sanju
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Bharat, had been brought in all the
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way from Nagpur and that he needed to
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be seen right away. Dr.
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Mehta hurried over to Sanju's room if
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someone was rushed in an ambulance from Sanju.
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so far away, it had to be a
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serious emergency.
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As soon as Dr. Mehta examined
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Sanju's giant swollen belly, he
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instructed the nurse to prepare the operating room
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for surgery. Dr. Mehta was a
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specialist in tumor removal and he
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was certain that Sanju had a massive
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tumor in his stomach, possibly
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the biggest one he'd ever seen. The
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tumor was likely pressing against Sanju's
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diaphragm, which was why he couldn't
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breathe. And given how big it was and
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Sanju's weakened condition, the tumor
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had to be removed immediately.
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While another nurse prepped Sanju for
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the operation, Dr. Mehta gathered
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his surgical team and headed to the operating
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room. As they
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sterilized their hands and put on clean scrubs,
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Dr. Mehta warned them that the tumor's sheer
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size would make this a very
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challenging operation. There
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was a risk of damaging the soft tissue in
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Sanju's stomach, his nerve endings, or
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blood vessels. In the worst case, the
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surgery could cause severe internal bleeding
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or even death.
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A few minutes later, Sanju was wheeled
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into the operating room on a gurney. Once
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he was under anesthesia, Dr. Mehta
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called for a scalpel.
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He placed one hand on Sanju's stomach
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for leverage. Then he cut into
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Sanju's belly. After
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the blade broke through Sanju's skin and opened
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up his chest area, Dr. Mehta
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expected to see blood and a bright red
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mass of cancerous cells. Instead,
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gallons of thick yellowish
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fluid gushed from Sanju's
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stomach spilling onto the floor. The
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entire surgical team gasped. Dr.
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Mehta jumped out of the way trying to avoid
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the surge of bile. Dr.
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Mehta had a foul odor that made everyone in the room
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start to gag. Nurses ran toward
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him with towels, trying to sop up
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the putrid smelling liquid. While
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they cleaned up the mass, Dr. Mehta remained
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calm. and carefully inserted his
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hand into Sanju's stomach to
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locate the tumor. At
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first, all he felt was thick jelly-like
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fluid sliding between his fingers. Then
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he grazed something unusual.
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His eyes went wide as he dove a little deeper.
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His palm wrapped around something soft
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but with a brittle core. He
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realized this was not a tumor. Whatever
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was in Sanju's stomach had bones,
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a lot of them. Dr.
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Madis Jha dropped as his hand
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explored the object floating in Sanju's
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stomach. He grabbed onto one of the tiny
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bones and began to slowly pull
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it up and out of Sanju's stomach.
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As he lifted the bizarre object
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into the air, he could hear more gasps
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from everyone in the room.
6:58
Hey Prime members, you can binge the first eight
7:01
episodes of Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries
7:03
right now and add free on Amazon
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Music. Download the Amazon Music app
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today.
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