EX MODEL ABANDONED BY LOVED ONES FOR SMELLING LIKE ROTTEN FISH DISCOVERS THE TRUTH BEHIND IT
We all feel like we’ve had our part of embarrassing moments and yet next time it happens again. When was the last time you felt embarrassed about anything? We all have been caught up in something or the other awkward. From time to time, life gets harsh on everyone, but it becomes difficult for some people to live. No matter how perfect one’s life looks to you, the truth stays with within them.
This is the story of one such girl named Camellia who seemed to have it all, sadly, she was living with a bizarre condition. There was something extremely wrong about her which kept her from getting the success she deserved. Her world was shaken and she felt like life has come to a halt. When there was no other choice left, Camellia got the unbelievable news.
Beautiful Model
Camilla, a former model was living a perfect life. Be it her professional life or her perfect life, all of it was going great. As we all know nothing lasts forever, Camilla’s world too was undergoing a major change. Unfortunately, the reason behind these changes was quite different than any normal person’s reason.
Something Is Wrong
In her young age, Camilla lived the best days, she was a bright student and a very reasonable girl. As she was growing she couldn’t ignore the fact that everyone close to her was running away from her. It happened very usually that her friends left her out of their plans. At times, she tried to ask what bothered them but no one ever said anything.
Smart Woman
After graduating from school, Camilla received a bachelor’s degree and she didn’t stop there. She further took admission in a masters course to gain expertise in her field of studies. She always scored good grades and it was quite obvious for a girl like her to think of studying even more than Masters. She was planning to apply for a Ph.D. course when things started to go out of her control.
Working As A Teacher
Alongside her admission in Ph.D., Camilla started teaching in a nearby school. Now, that she was handling a class of around 30 students, she found it weird on their part to make fun of her every time she entered the classroom. At first, she ignored it thinking the kids will be able to adjust with her as a new teacher soon. But that was never going to happen.
Holding Their Noses
To Camilla’s surprise, most of the kids in the classroom used to hold their noses whenever she entered the room. It was strange and didn’t feel right. Yes, she did try to ask the kids if something was wrong but they denied. When the same kind of behavior became an everyday thing, Camilla started to become surer about something not being right.
Asking A Friend’s Help
Camilla shared her experience of the school with one of her trusted friends. Unexpectedly, her friend wasn’t much surprised on listening to Camilla’s problem. Does this mean her friend too was aware of the reason behind her students’ unlikely nature towards her? Although her friend hesitated to tell and now, Camilla wanted to know the reason behind it.
Reason Behind It All
The accomplished woman’s friend was trying to save her friendship by not revealing the truth. But Camilla kept insisting for it was very important for her to know the reason that gave her students a chance to make pranks on her. Her friend started with a consoling statement that it was okay and it was not her fault. Camilla questioned what wasn’t her fault.
Bad Odor
The truth was finally said, Camilla has a bad odor. And the weirdest part of all was that she couldn’t smell it. But how could she smell bad? Camilla was not one of those who take their hygiene lightly. She wasn’t able to understand what was wrong with her.
Love For Baths
Camilla was one of those people who love taking a bath. After a long day at work, bathing was like a therapy to her. Being a part-time model, she not only had a pretty good dress sense but she also had a good choice in perfumes and deodorants. Claiming that a woman like her smells bad sounded like a bad joke to her.
Rotten Fish
Camilla’s friend explained to her that it’s been a long time since she could smell rotten fish out of her. It felt awkward to talk about it but she needed to know the issue. As if what her friend said so far wasn’t enough that she had more to tell Camilla.
Couldn’t Help But Cry
Listening to her friend talk like that made Camilla emotional and she couldn’t hold back her tears. It was both confusing and frightening that something like that was happening to her. She felt like it was the worst day of her life. Camilla wasn’t even in the state of thinking what might the possible reason behind it. And her friend had even worse news for her.
The Smell Getting Stronger
Camilla’s friend also told her that every time they meet, she felt like the smell was getting stronger. Camilla was doing nothing different from the rest of the world which could make her smell like a rotten fish.
All Making Sense
Camilla’s students giggling behind the back was now justified. All the teachers who tried to ignore her and sat on separate tables during the lunchtime were now making sense to her. She felt shattered at that moment with nowhere to go, no one to talk to.
Never Going Back
Camilla couldn’t believe that all this time everyone around her was aware of it but herself. She was embarrassed to ever go to the school again and face those people who used to make fun of her behind her back. It was one feeling none of us would ever want to feel.
Are They Whispering?
“I was so focused on ‘Do I smell? Do I smell? Are they saying things? Are they whispering? Are they laughing about me?’” Camilla recalled the day when she had to face the bitter reality. She had an interview with the ABC News but she never revealed her last name.
Smelly Auditorium
“I didn’t know why I was emitting such a strong odor, I mean, it can fill an entire room. Recently, it filled an auditorium,” recalled Camilla of the day when she joined her students in the auditorium on the school’s annual day. Everyone could smell the rotten fish smell but no one could know its source back then.
Miss Fishy
Camilla once heard one of her students calling her “Miss Fishy”. She even recalled the comments they passed, and now she knew it was all for her. While entering the classroom, one of the students said, “Ew, this classroom stinks like dead fish.”
Absurd Questions
Camilla remembered, “One of my teachers asked me if I was showering every day. From that point on, she kind of sat me in the corner of the classroom. Kids would call me a freak. They would tell me I smelled like horse manure [and] dead fish.”
What Lies Ahead?
Camilla couldn’t even think of facing the world with the rotten fish smell, dreaming of a successful career and having a family completely seemed out of her hands. Watching herself become the odd one out she never wanted to become, broke her heart. She didn’t know what options she had and if there was any way at all to fix it.
Ruining Her Life
Camilla avoided going outside. She quit her job and took a job where she could work from home. At least she had some professional life left but her personal life was completely ruined. Gradually, the smell was getting stronger and she was getting used to it.
Personal Hygiene Issues
Camilla’s diet was not much different than any ordinary person nor it was related to any personal hygiene issues. Initially, there was no ray of hope in her life other than learning to live with the smell. After some years, she found someone who was just like her and life wasn’t easy for this person either.
Old Experience
Staying back at home and thinking of all the signs that people indirectly gave her about the bad odor was all she did for the next few years. She could remember that this odor was with her from a really long time.
First Job
Camilla remembered her first job, and how her manager always sent her in the pain room and asked her to work there only. He always assigned her work while standing outside the room, maintaining enough distance.
Making Her Feel Vulnerable
She recalled in an interview about her first job as a teller in a credit union, she told, “My supervisor would come by and spray my area with perfume, Lysol, and they put me in the drive-through section, which is separate from the rest of the teller area.”
Helpless And Hopeless
Camilla revealed, “I always thought, ‘I’m a freak.’ You start to see yourself as not quite human. You feel incredibly helpless and hopeless.” She added: “Tired of being ridiculed and feeling like a freak. So I’m going to take my life.”
Hiding The Bad Smell
Camilla was trying all the possible methods to hide this smell but she failed every time. Beauty products, perfumes, lotions, but none of it was enough to cover the smell. After staying at home for a long time, this was driving her crazy.
Googling For The Answers
One day she googled, “body odor smells like rotten fish”. Even Google couldn’t give her the exact answer for it back in 2006. She was frustrated and scrolling down and clicking to the next page just in the hope to find something beneficial.
A Girl With The Same Issue
While Google didn’t show her the best results, it surely did show her the story of a woman who has suffered from the same problem as hers. Her name was Sandy and her story was so touching that Camilla made up her mind about meeting this woman at least once.
Sewer Like Smell
In Sandy’s case, she could smell the bad odor coming in her house. But she couldn’t understand the source of it. Sandy thought the smell was coming from the sewer but that wasn’t true. She was so sure about it that she even called the maintenance man to take a look at the situation.
Not Sewer But Yourself!
When two men arrived at her doorstep they checked all the sewers but nothing was wrong. When Sandy asked them why the smell was still there, out of frustration one of the men told her that there were no issues with the sewers but her. He told her bluntly that the smell was coming from her.
Disheartened
Sandy couldn’t believe what she just heard and from there on, she started searching about this odor issue of her. That’s when she started expensive research about this unknown disorder. She visited many doctors and skin experts but none of them was able to figure out the exact issue.
$27,000
It cost Sandy $27,000 only to diagnose her condition. However, she too couldn’t find any success in it. Sandy too gave up on it until one day when her dentist suggested her the right specialist who could be of great help to her.
Useless Google
Just like Camilla, Sandy too spent nights searching about this issue on the internet but she couldn’t find any relevant piece of information. It was strange that she was ready to all she had to get rid of the smell but she couldn’t find the right way to get it done.
The Dentist’s Suggestion
When Camilla went to the dentist for a regular checkup, the specialist suggested her to meet Dr. George Preti, a practitioner at Philadelphia’s Monell Chemical Senses Institute. The dentist was quite confident that Dr. Preti will be able to help Sandy and she too hoped the same.
Dr. Preti
In 2006, Sandy met Dr. Camilla, who specialized in rare genetic disorders, including TMAU (Trimethylaminuria). That’s what Sandy was diagnosed with. This disease is so rare that till 2006 there were only 600 reported cases of this disease. It was now clear why there was no information about this condition on the internet.
Wishing To Meet Sandy
After reading Sandy’s story, Camilla finally knew the name of the disease she was suffering from past many years. The long lost ray of hope finally made a way in her life. She was wondering if there was anything at all she could do to meet this woman who became the reason to bring back the light in her life.
Not Alone
Camilla felt at peace when she realized that she wasn’t the only one in the world to know how it feels. What happened later on surprised the whole world and brought the media’s attention to both Sandy and Camilla’s case.
Sandy
Sandy who started her own foundation with the name of TMAU was finally able to be of some use to Camilla who suffered from the same disease like hers. Spreading more and more information about this disease became the sole motive of her life.
The Doctor’s Advice
Listening to Sandy’s story, Camilla immediately rushed to the Monell Chemical Senses Center. She took an appointment to meet Dr. George Preti, a person who was going to guide Camilla out of her the smelly world in which she was living from so long.
To The Hospital
Luckily, Dr. George Preti told Camilla that her condition can certainly improve with the help of medications and much more. But before anything, they conducted a few tests including the blood test. So, was Camilla fully cured?
Special Pills
After the tests, Dr. Preti prescribed her with a lot of specific pills as the first step of their recovering process. Soon after the pills started to suit Camilla, the doctor changed her entire diet. But will a bunch of medicines and a diet change help her?
Clearing Out The Fridge
Dr. Preti suggested her that just medicines will not help her and she would require to clean up her fridge. All the eating habits that she had were asked to be changed or the treatment might not work on her.
Full Dedication
Camilla saw Dr. Preti and Sandy as her life saviors. She strictly followed each and everything that the doctor told her. Although the smell didn’t just go away overnight, Camilla could certainly feel the improvement which meant that the treatment was working!
Confident
As soon as Camilla noticed her bad odor becoming milder, her confidence level increased and she made the resolution to continue following all the instructions to get free from TMAU. She never thought that she’ll ever feel this confident again.
A Lot Of Hard Work
“I wash with several different products, and I scrub very hard, I use two different kinds of deodorant and a lot of perfume. Before I actually leave the house, I spray all of my clothes with Febreze just all up and down, and I also spray my feet and my socks with the deodorant for my feet,” said Camilla who is doing everything to stay away from her past condition.
The Doctor Speaks Out
Dr. George Preti said that this treatment he gave to Camilla and Sandy will not be able to cure the ladies completely but it will certainly control the strong odor. He was right, both of them felt much better than before.
The Incurable Disease
Yes, science is developing new methods every day but TMAU can still not be cured. Yet thanks to Sandy’s efforts, more people are aware of this disease and hopefully someday soon there will be a cure for it.
A Normal Life
Camilla started working again and lives a normal life these days. She hopes to have a family someday and we hope the same for her. The improvement in her condition is a blessing for the lady. And guess what she did get to meet Sandy once.
Camilla And Sandy
When the two of them met during an interview, there were tears in their eyes. The similar embarrassment and sufferings connected them with each other. They still meet once in a while to sit and talk about the disease and what they can do to help others who are suffering from TMAU.
The Recent Update
Back in 2012, Camilla gave an update to the media about the improvement in her condition, she said: “If there’s one thing I’ve learned since being diagnosed with TMAU, it’s that, with accurate information and proper perspective, TMAU is manageable.”
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